177 
V4 


CO 

CvJ 
CD 
CD 


CJ 


OCCASIONAL  SCIENTIFIC  PAPERS 

OF  THE 

WESTWOOD  ASTROPHYSICAL  OBSERVATORY 
NUMBER  2. 


THE    LUMINIFEROUS    ETHER: 

(I)  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  ELECTRON  AND  TO 

A  UNIVERSAL  INTERSTELLAR  MEDIUM; 

(II)  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  ATOM 


BY 

FRANK   W.    VERY 


BOSTON:  THE  FOUR  SEAS  COMPANY 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 


By  Frank  W.  Very 

OCCASIONAL   SCIENTIFIC    PAPERS   OF   THE   WESTWOOD 
ASTROPHYSICAL    OBSERVATORY:    NUMBER    I 

LUNAR  AND  TERRESTRIAL  ALBEDOES 


OCCASIONAL  SCIENTIFIC  PAPERS 

OF  THE 

WESTWOOD  ASTROPHYSICAL  OBSERVATORY 
NUMBER  2. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER: 

(I)  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  ELECTRON  AND  TO 

A  UNIVERSAL  INTERSTELLAR  MEDIUM; 

(II)  ITS  RELATION   TO  THE  ATOM 


BY 

FRANK  W.  VERY 


BOSTON 

THE  FOUR  SEAS  COMPANY 
1919 


The  Four  Seas  Press 
Boston,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 


HISTORICAL  NOTE 

This  paper  was  presented  in  abstract  at  the  twenty-second 
meeting  of  the  American  Astronomical  Society  at  Harvard 
College  Observatory,  August  20,  1918,  and  is  here  reprinted  in 
full  from  the  New-Church  Review  for  October,  1918  (Vol. 
XXV,  pages  528  to  5/6).  It  is  an  elaboration  of  a  view  put 
forth  in  my  critique  and  appreciation  of  Swedenborg's  Prin- 
cipia  which  appeared  in  the  same  publication  in  April  and  July, 
1913  (Vol.  XX,  pages  161  to  197,  and  392  to  436),  where  a 
return  to  Swedenborg's  scientific  doctrine  of  a  limited  ether, 
and  of  light  as  consisting  of  discrete  vibrating  ether-particles, 
was  advocated.  The  present  paper  includes  much  additional 
material,  especially  in  respect  to  the  connection  of  the  ether 
with  a  fundamental  electronic  unit  and  the  universal  medium 
out  of  which  both  the  electron  and  the  ether-particle  are  sup- 
posed to  be  formed.  Incidentally,  further  details  are  included 
from  my  papers  on  the  cause  and  limitation  of  gravitation 
which  have  not,  as  yet,  been  published  elsewhere. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER:   (I)   ITS  RELA- 
TION TO  THE  ELECTRON  AND  TO  A 
UNIVERSAL  INTERSTELLAR 
MEDIUM. 

THERE  has  arisen  at  the  present  time  a  new  doctrine 
which  declares  that  there  is  no  ether,  or  universal 
atmosphere  consecrated  to  the  propagation  of 
luminous  waves,  but  that  light  consists  of  discrete  "quanta" 
of  luminous  energy,  thrown  off  from  vibrating  electrons 
and  originating  in  their  disturbed  motion.  This  proposi- 
tion appears  to  be  well  founded;  but  it  does  not  therefore 
do  away  with  the  necessity  for  a  universal  medium,  though 
this  medium  should  no  longer  be  called  "the  luminiferous 
ether."  I  have  adopted  for  the  universal  interstellar  atmos- 
phere the  name  of  "aura,"  a  term  which  I  have  borrowed 
from  Swedenborg,  who  uses  it  sometimes  to  designate  a 
universal  atmosphere,  a  "purer  ether,"  assigning  to  it  in 
the  end  a  gravitational  function,  and  placing  it  as  an  ante- 
cedent to  the  light-bearing  ether. 

While  the  universal  aura,  or  "ether  of  space,"  as  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge  calls  it,  has  no  mass,  the  case  is  different 
with  the  electrically  organized  "ether,"  of  which  Sir  J.  J. 
Thomson  in  his  "Electricity  and  Matter"  has  said:  "All 
mass  is  mass  of  the  ether,  all  momentum,  momentum  of 
the  ether,  and  all  kinetic  energy,  kinetic  energy  of  the 
ether."  Here,  however,  he  points  out  that  "the  concentra- 
tion of  the  lines  of  force  on  the  small  negative  bodies — the 
'corpuscles'  [or  electrons] — is  so  great  that  practically 
the  whole  of  the  bound  ether  is  localized  around  these 
bodies" ;  and  this  follows  because  the  energy  per  unit  vol- 
ume in  the  magnetic  field  of  the  moving  electrons  dimin- 
ishes in  proportion  to  the  inverse  fourth  power  of  the 

7 


8  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

distance.*  This  alone  shows  that  gravitation  can  not  re- 
side in  the  electrically  bound  ether,  since  the  efficacy  of 
gravitative  force  is  related  to  the  inverse  square  of  the 
distance ;  nor  can  gravitation  depend  upon  the  mere  revolu- 
tions of  the  electrons,  though  these,  if  uncompensated, 
may  generate  an  atomic  magnetic  field.  On  this  account 
and  because  the  magnitudes  of  the  electric  and  gravitational 
forces  are  of  a  totally  different  order,  we  are  driven  to 
seek  for  some  mechanism  for  gravitation  different  from 
the  disturbance  produced  by  a  simple  electronic  revolution 
per  se. 

It  is  assumed  by  Thomson  that  his  corpuscles  are  spheres. 
It  does  not  appear  possible  that  electrons  can  have  the  ring- 
vortex  form  which  Lord  Kelvin  assigned  to  his  vortex- 
atoms;  for  these  could  not  unite  into  vortex  filaments,  or 
unite  in  any  way  except  by  two  neighbors  alternately 
threading  each  the  other  periodically. 

*William  Sutherland  has  considered  the  reason  for  this  law  in 
an    article    on    "The   Electric   Origin   .of   Molecular   Attraction" 
(Philosophical  Magazine,  Ser.  6,  Vol.  IV,  p.  625,  December,  1902). 
"The  theory  of  magnetism  familiarizes  us  with  an  inverse  fourth- 
power  fprce  between  magnets  at  distances  great  compared  with 
their  lengths.    In  applying  this  known  magnetic  result  to  account 
tor  molecular  attraction,   we  are  at  the  outset  confronted  with 
the  difficulty  that  in  the  case  of  magnets  the  force  is  as  often 
repulsive  as  attractive,  the  nature  of  the  force  depending  on  the 
relative  direction  of  polarities  in  the  magnets,  whereas  the  molec- 
ular forces  required  to  account  for  cohesion  must  be  preponder- 
atingly  attractive."     On  further  examination,   however,   he  finds 
that  "the  attractive  forces  by  their  own  operation  tend  to  increase 
themselves,    while   the   repulsive   forces   tend   to   decrease   them- 
selves."    Thus  if  neighboring  magnets,   or  electric  doublets  ap- 
proach each  other,  the  "axes  tend  to,  take  the  same  direction,  and 
therefore  on  this  account  they  exercise  a  stronger  attraction  on 
one  another;  and  also  because  attracting  forces  varying  inversely 
as   the  fourth  power  of  the  distance  produce  motion   which   in- 
creases their  strength,  there  are  two  causes  which  make  the  at- 
tractive forces  amongst  a  number  of  moving  doublets  of  more 
dynamical  importance  than  the  repulsive."     The  applicability  of 
the  law  to  any  medium  rests  upon  the  magnetic  properties  of  its 
least  constituents. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  9 

Swedenborg's    "ethereal    particle"    was    also    supposed    to 
be   spherical,    and    was    thus   fitted   to    receive   all   kinds   of 
vibration   without   distinction.     "The    ethereal   particles   thus 
formed    can    subsist    under   any    form   of   motion    and   with 
perfect    aptitude  to   it"    (Principia,   Part   III,   Chap.  V,   No. 
6.)     But  more  noteworthy  was  his  conception  of  a  peculiar 
sort  of  vortex-particle,  to  which  we  shall  return,  having  a 
structure  of   such   a  nature  that   similarly   rotating  particles 
may    unite    into    vortex    filaments.     Such   a    structure    lends 
itself   admirably   to    the   explanation   of    several   phenomena, 
such  as  the  polarization  of  the  magnetic  medium  under  the 
influence   of   an   electric   circuit,   and   leads   especially   to   an 
idea    of    the    way    in    which    ether-particles    are    formed    by 
electrons  out  of  the  aura  through  the  aid  of  forces  in  this 
medium;  and  as  if   foreseeing  such  a  relation,  though  there 
were   then   few    facts   on   which  to  base   it,   Swedenborg  as- 
signed an  ethereal  origin  to  electricity  as  well  as  light,  and 
had  a  vague  idea  of  a  distinction  between  "warm  and  cold 
light,"  or,  as  we  should  now  say,  between  the  radiation  of 
a  heated  body  and  electrically  produced  luminescence,   link- 
ing the  "cold  light"  with  electricity.     He  also  assigned  both 
a  vibratory    and    a    corpuscular    nature    to    his     luminous 
"ethereal     particle,"     thus     combining    the     Newtonian     and 
Huyghenian  hypotheses — a  view  to  which  we  are  in  a  fair  way 
to  return.*     After  several  speculations  of  this  sort,  he  restrains 
himself  with  the  words:  "Much  more  might  be  said,  but  which 
I  omit,  as  I  have  no  experiments  to  prove  my  statements." 

The  vortical  form  in  question  was  assigned  to  a  particle 
of  the  magnetic  medium.  It  had  a  rational  basis  in  the  fact 
of  the  obvious  existence  of  vortex  motion  in  that  medium, 
as  revealed  in  the  magnetic  phantom;  and  some  of  its  prop- 
erties have  seemed  to  be  too  valuable  to  be  laid  on  the  shelf 
of  unverified  hypothesis.  There  is  an  opportunity  for  a 
resuscitation  and  modification  of  this  scheme  today.  From 
the  same  mine  of  suggestions,  now  happily  capable  of  a 

*For  a  fuller  account  of  this  subject,  see  my  "Prevision  of 
Scientific  Progress."  Boston:  B.  A.  Whittemore,  1914. 


io  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

certain  amount  of  confirmation  by  experiment,  I  think  we 
may  borrow,  with  some  modifications,  a  working  plan  of 
an  atom. 

Let  us  assume  that  there  is  around  an  electron  a  con- 
densation of  the  aura  in  which  its  electric  properties  reside; 
that  the  electron  both  rotates  on  an  axis  and  also  pulsates 
with  a  radial,  regular,  and  uniform  motion  at  all  points  of 
its  surface,  being  urged  to  this  motion  by  an  internal  resil- 
ience; and  that  its  shape  is  that  of  an  approximate  sphere 
with  a  central  core,  for  which  a  reason  will  be  given  later. 
The  electron  is  incapable  of  further  compression,  but  is 
surrounded  by  its  own  ethereal  "atmosphere"  in  which  the 
pressure  diminishes  outwardly  at  a  very  rapid  rate.  During 
steady  motion,  this  atmosphere  moves  with  the  electron 
and  virtually  forms  a  part  of  it;  but  the  adhesion  is  so 
slight  that  under  sudden  shock  the  envelope  is  stript  off 
and  becomes  a  spherical  ethereal  particle  which  pulsates  and 
oscillates  within  limits,  but  does  not  rotate.  The  naked 
electron  immediately  takes  to  itself  a  new  atmosphere 
formed  out  of  the  illimitable  aura,  and  may  almost  imme- 
diately lose  its  garment  again  at  the  next  shock.  Thus  a 
single  electron  can  undergo  a  succession  of  shocks  which 
generate  a  series  of  ether-corpuscles,  each  with  a  different, 
but  harmonically  related  variety  of  vibration,  which  could 
not  happen  if  the  electron  as  a  whole  were  immediately 
converted  into  an  ether-corpuscle. 

Professor  W.  H.  Bragg,  who  was  the  first  to  indicate 
the  probable  corpuscular  nature  of  the  Rontgen  rays,  sug- 
gested that  "an  electron  of  given  energy  may  be  converted 
into  a  light-quantum  of  equal  energy  and  vice  versa."  This 
at  first  seemed  a  permissible  interpretation  of  the  experi- 
mental evidence;  but  now  that  it  is  known  that  the  X-rays 
carry  with  them  the  peculiar  vibrations  of  the  electrons 
characteristic  of  the  atoms  composing  the  anti-cathode ',  it 
becomes  evident  that  this  is  not  an  immediate  conversion 
of  electrons  in  the  cathode  stream  into  ether,  but  that  the 
electrons  from  the  cathode  are  absorbed  by  the  target  and 
in  this  process  they  produce  disturbances  in  the  electrons 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  n 

and  the  ether  already  attached  to  its  atoms.  The  electron 
therefore  preserves  its  identity,  and  is  associated  with  the 
ether,  rather  than  converted  into  it. 

The  ether-particle  thus  formed  is  a  sphere  of  the  same 
size  as  the  eleck-on.  Its  pulsation  gives  it  mass  which, 
together  with  its  onward  motion,  causes  it  to  have  momen- 
tum. Its  oscillation  gives  it  alternating  positive  and  nega- 
tive electric  sign  and  a  reciprocating  magnetic  field,  the 
whole  constituting  a  least  quantum  of  electro-magnetic 
energy.  Because  the  electrons  everywhere  repel  each  other, 
and  because  radiation  is  an  affair  of  surfaces,  the  emission 
of  radiant  ether  by  any  portion  of  matter,  from  its  origin, 
takes  the  form  of  a  spherical  wave. 

Conjoined  with  its  electron,  the  ether-particle  may  be 
said  to  have  had  a  previous  existence  of  a  relatively 
quiescent  sort,  but  as  a  free  entity  it  necessarily  moves  on- 
ward with  the  velocity  of  light,  carrying  with  it  its  own 
invariable  quantum  of  energy.  Consequently,  the  energy 
of  radiation  is  measured  by  the  number  of  ether-particles 
in  the  unit  of  volume.  This  follows  from  Planck's  epochal 
discovery  that  the  radiant  quantum  is  a  fundamental  con- 
stant of  nature.  Eventually,  the  ether-particle,  which  has 
been  formed  out  of  the  aura,  is  re-absorbed  by  the  medium ; 
but  because  the  frictional  resistance  of  the  aura  is  very 
minute,  the  progress  of  absorption  is  excessively  slow. 

The  Assumption  that  the  Ether-Particle  is  derived  from 
an  Electronic  Envelope. — A  fundamental  difference  be- 
tween a  free  ether-particle  and  an  electron  is  that  the  latter 
rotates  on  an  axis,  and  has  polarity,  but  the  former  does  not 
rotate  and,  having  a  perfectly  spherical  surface,  is  thereby 
free  to  take  up  any  form  of  oscillation  and  transmit  it  with 
complete  identity  as  to  all  of  its  phases. 

The  electrons  which  issue  from  the  cathode  of  an  X-ray 
tube,  strike  the  atoms  of  the  target;  whereupon  certain 
electrons  attached  to  these  atoms  have  the  rotations  of  their 
envelopes  transformed  into  a  rocking  motion,  and  the 
stripped-off  envelopes  proceed  as  vibrating  ether-corpuscles ; 
for  the  X-rays,  no  less  than  the  luminous  rays,  are 


12  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

corpuscular  "quanta"  of  radiant  energy,  characterized  by 
an  extraordinary  rapidity  of  vibration, ,  which,  since  it 
originates  in  an  electronic  oscillation,  I  conceive  to  be  an 
oscillatory  vibration. 

An  advancing  electron,  moving  in  the  direction  of  its 
axis,  produces  by  its  rotation  and  carries  along  with  it  a 
vortex-filament  of  the  aura  which  is  the  electron's  magnetic 
field,  due  to  its  motion  and  made  up  of  circular  "lines  of 
magnetic  force",  or  currents  of  minute  size  in  the  adjoining 
aura,  concentric  with  the  axis  of  the  electron.  Sir  J.  J. 
Thomson  supposes  that  the  electron  is  also  accompanied 
by  radial  vortex-filaments  which  are  its  electric  lines  of 
force;  and  that  when  the  velocity  in  the  axial  direction  in- 
creases, these  lines  crowd  towards  the  equatorial  plane  thus 
giving  greater  resistance  to  motion,  or  greater  "inertia." 
According  to  my  present  proposition,  the  steady  orbital 
motion  of  the  electrons  within  the  atom  is  always  substan- 
tially in  the  direction  of  their  axes  of  rotation,  but  at  speeds 
much  less  than  that  of  light. 

If  the  lines  of  electric  force  about  an  electron  are  vortex- 
filaments,  this  would  seem  to  imply  that  the  magnetic  aura 
is  itself  composed  of  particles  still  smaller  than  the  elec- 
trons, which  are  also  rotating  and  which  become  polarized, 
or  arranged  in  radial  filaments  under  the  strain  in  the 
medium  set  up  by  the  rotation  of  the  electron,  perhaps 
combined  with  some  other  form  of  motion.  This  suggests 
that  electrical  attractions  and  repulsions  may  be  associated 
with  the  rotations  of  the  electrons,  attended  by  vortices  in 
the  aura,  but  that  gravity  originates  from  waves  of  longi- 
tudinal vibration  in  the  aura  (the  counterpart  of  sound 
waves  in  the  air)  produced  by  the  rapidly  alternating  ex- 
pansion and  contraction  of  the  electrons.  This  explanation 
requires  that  there  must  be  a  perpetual  elastic  action  and 
reaction  in  alternation  between  the  inner  contents  of  the 
spherical  electrons  and  the  volume  of  aura  which  fills  an 
"aural  cell,"  at  an  electronic  surface  of  transition  which 
is  not  far  from  spherical  and  of  fixed  dimensions  deter- 
mined by  some  property  of  the  aura  yet  to  be  investigated. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  13 

On  the  supposition  that  an  electron  is  a  rotating  sphere, 
or  near  sphere,  of  aura  when  translated  at  moderate  speed, 
it  does  not  follow  that  the  shape  will  be  retained  at  higher 
speeds.  More  probably  any  accentuation  of  the  progressive 
motion  will  be  accompanied  by  increased  resistance  with 
transition  from  a  sphere  to  an  oblate  spheroid,  and  final 
dissipation  by  centrifugal  force  if  the  speed  were  to  exceed 
the  velocity  of  light,  for  which  the  resistance  would  be 
infinite  with  the  lines  of  electric  force  compressed  into  an 
infinitely  thin  sheet.  But  a  spherical  particle  of  ether  which 
is  without  any  rotation,  moves  at  once  with  the  velocity  of 
light  by  virtue  of  the  properties  of  the  aura  out  of  which 
the  ether  is  made.  I  shall  show  further  on  that  the  elec- 
tronic rotation  is  so  rapid  that  the  shape  is  probably  not 
merely  spheroidal,  but  is  that  of  an  annulus  or  cored  vortex- 
ring. 

The  electric  field  of  an  electron  is  therefore  made  up  of 
static  radial  lines  of  strain  in  the  aura,  which  are  accom- 
panied by  a  magnetic  field  of  kinetic  lines  of  flow  when- 
ever the  electron  advances,  both  together  constituting  a 
consistent  electro-magnetic  dynamic  system  in  the  aura. 

Just  as  the  larger  Faraday  tubes  of  electric  force 
between  oppositely  electrified  bodies  are  composed  of 
stretched  chains  of  polarized  atoms,  where  the  individual 
members  of  the  chain  are  kept  in  connection  by  streams  of 
moving  electrons,  so  the  finer  threads  of  electric  force  about 
the  electrons,  repeating  the  structure  on  a  smaller  scale, 
require  chains  of  still  finer  polarized  particles  of  the  aura, — 
the  entire  electric  system  comprising  three  orders  of  mag- 
nitude, namely,  atoms,  electrons,  magnetons.  Here,  how- 
ever, by  an  alternation  of  properties  which  seems  to  be  in- 
evitable in  the  relation  and  connection  of  these  different 
orders  of  magnitude,  the  connecting  lines  of  the  aura  are 
not  lines  of  flow,  but  are  made  up  of  rotating  magnetons 
held  together  by  magnetic  attraction;  for  all  the  properties 
of  the  aura,  as  a  whole  and  as  to  its  least  units,  are  mag- 
netic. The  magnetons  lend  themselves  as  naturally  to 
rotations  as  the  electrons  do  to  the  How  of  electric  current. 


14  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

Thus  the  normal  motion  of  an  unrestrained  electron  is  a  rec- 
tilinear electric  flow,  carrying  with  it  always  an  accompanying 
orbital  circulation  of  magnetons.  The  latter  is  the  magnetic 
field  due  to  the  progressive  motion  of  the  electron,  while  any 
magnetically  originated  flux  is,  first  of  all,  either  a  circulation 
or  a  rotation  of  magnetons  which  constrains  the  electrons  to 
flow  according  to  their  own  peculiar  mode. 

According  to  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson's  view,  X-rays,  and  there- 
fore we  may  now  say  all  luminous  rays,  since  it  has  become 
obvious  that  there  is  no  distinction  of  form  between  the  two, 
are  propagated  rectilineally  as  kinks  in  a  universally  present, 
system  of  ether  tubes.  But  a  discrepancy  immediately  ap- 
pears, because,  as  we  have  seen,  the  ethereal  structure  "is 
localized,"  according  to  the  same  authority,  and  is  by  no  means 
universal. 

But  Bragg  has  shown  that  the  X-rays  are  probably  of  a 
corpuscular  nature  equally  with  the  cathode  rays,  and  since 
the  electrons  disappear  in  producing  X-rays,  while  the  latter, 
in  turn,  are  capable  of  "generating,"  or  more  probably  of 
setting  free  electrons  anew,  since  the  light-rays,  when  they 
meet  an  electronic  system  which  can  execute  the  same  rhythm, 
or  dance  to  the  same  tune,  are  absorbed,  and  the  energy  of  the 
light  is  communicated  to  the  electronic  system,  it  seems  fairly 
demonstrated  that  electrons  and  ether-corpuscles  are  structural- 
ly connected;  and  that  they  are  identical  as  to  magnitude  is 
very  probable,  the  chief  difference  between  them  being  the 
presence  or  absence  of  axial  rotation. 

In  regard  to  Thomson's  fibrous  ether,  Professor  Millikan, 
in  his  book  on  "The  Electron"  (p.  230),  raises  the  objec- 
tion that  "When  we  maintain  the  field  constant  and  vary 
the  charge  on  the  drop  [of  liquid  to  which  an  electron  is 
attached,  where  the  motion  of  the  suspended  drop  is  con- 
trolled by  the  electric  field],  the  granular  structure  of 
electricity  is  proved  by  the  discontinuous  changes  in  the 
velocity,  but  when  we  maintain  the  charge  constant  and 
vary  the  field,  the  lack  of  discontinuous  change  in  the 
velocity  disproves  the  contention  of  a  fibrous  structure  in 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  15 

the  field,  unless  the  assumption  be  made  that  there  are  an 
enormous  number  of  ether  strings  ending  in  one  electron." 
This  seems  to  him  improbable,  but  perhaps  the  ethereal 
envelope,  attached  to  an*electron,  has  an  analogous  struc- 
ture formed  out  of  the  aura.  If  the  aura  is  composed  of 
polar  particles  which  are  minute  in  respect  to  the  size  of 
an  electron,  the  radial  filaments  of  polarized  magnetons, 
attached  to  an  electron  and  which  constitute  its  electric 
field,  are  very  numerous,  fulfilling  Professor  Millikan's 
proviso  in  this  respect;  and  if  the  convergence  of  these 
vortex-filaments  is  what  produces  the  surface  condensa- 
tion to  balance  the  relatively  enormous  centrifugal  force 
of  the  whirling  electron,  they  act  like  so  many  compressed 
springs. 

The  shaking  off  of  the  electronic  envelope  gives  to  the 
ether-particle  thus  formed  an  oscillatory  springiness  and 
provides  it  with  an  analogous  system  of  vortex  filaments 
by  which  it  takes  hold  of  the  aura  in  transit,  or  else  has  its 
energy  transferred  to  a  new  electron  upon  absorption.  A 
considerable  amount  of  energy  becomes  latent  in  the  gen- 
eration of  an  ether-corpuscle  and  is  not  included  in  the 
"radiant  energy"  which  it  conveys.  This  energy  of  forma- 
tion is  derived  from  the  constitutional  energy  of  the  elec- 
tron, and  is  proportional  to  the  frequency  of  the  luminous 
vibration,  but  not  to  the  radiant  intensity.  This,  it  seems 
to  me,  is  the  meaning  of  Einstein's  equation: 


where  h  is  Planck's  energy-constant,  e  is  the  charge  on  an 
electron,  ^F  is  the  change  of  the  electrical  potential,  and 
Av  is  the  corresponding  range  of  frequency,  the  higher 
frequency  requiring  a  correspondingly  greater  electric 
potential  for  its  production.  Lenard's  discovery  (Annalen 
der  Physik,  (4),  Bd.  VIII,  S.  149,  1902)  that  in  the  photo- 
electric effect,  the  energy  with  which  electrons  are  thrown 
off  from  a  metal  on  exposure  to  ultra-violet  light  is  wholly 
independent  of  the  intensity  of  the  light,  requires  that  there 


1 6  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

must  be  an  independent  source  of  energy  which  is  pre- 
sumably structural.  This  structural  energy  of  the  ether 
was  originally  derived  from  the  electrons,  and  may  be 
returned  to  them. 

The  ether-corpuscle  is  a  distinct  entity,  but  it  has  a 
structure  which  has  extension  into  a  surrounding  field  of 
potential  energy;  and  once  organized,  this  structure  can 
experience  vicissitudes  which  are  the  "radiant  energy"  of 
the  combination. 

Distinction  between  Radiation  from  Satellite  Electrons 
and  from  those  of  the  Nucleus. — For  a  uniform  revolution 
of  electrons  in  an  orbit,  with  a  constant  radius  vector,  there 
is  no  acceleration  and  no  production  of  electro-magnetic 
radiation.  The  latter  arises  through  perturbations  which 
change  the  radius  vector  of  the  orbit,  just  as  a  uniform 
electric  current  in  a  conducting  wire  produces  no  induced 
current,  but  the  latter  arises  when  the  first  current  is  made 
or  broken,  thus  as  a  result  of  a  sudden  change  of  current. 
Similarly,  the  removal  of  a  satellite  electron  takes  place 
by  a  series  of  jumps  from  one  stable  orbit  to  another,  each 
explosive  dislocation  of  the  uniform  orbital  motion  and 
substitution  of  a  new  orbit  producing  a  radiant  vibration 
of  a  special  wave-length;  and  a  succession  of  such  disloca- 
tions causes  a  series  of  discrete,  but  harmonically  related 
vibrations  appertaining  to  a  set  of  associated  orbital  dis- 
tances and  constituting  a  spectral  series. 

On  the  other  hand,  thermal  shocks  arising  in  the  inter- 
relations of  the  molecules  in  a  solid  or  liquid,  or  in  a  highly 
condensed  gas,  and  which  are  powerful  enough  to  affect 
the  entire  spherical  shell  of  electrons  of  the  nucleus  of  an 
atom,  produce  continuous  changes  in  adjoining  electronic 
orbits  distributed  in  parallel  over  the  surface  of  the 
spherical  shell.  Thus  if  the  nucleus  of  the  atom  expands, 
all  of  the  nuclear  orbits  enlarge.  The  combination  of  ex- 
panding orbits  is  like  an  ever  varying  spiral  motion  with 
a  continually  changing  radius  vector.  Whatever  shocks 
these  electrons  of  the  general  atomic  sphere  receive  will 
generate  a  whole  range  of  gradually  varying  frequencies 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  17 

giving  rise  to  a  continuous  spectrum.  Hence  the  continuous 
spectrum  of  a  radiating  solid  must  be  attributed  wholly  to  the 
vibrating  nuclei  of  its  atoms,  consisting  each  of  thousands  or 
tens  of  thousands  of  electrons.  As  a  rule  (with  a  few  partial 
exceptions  as  in  the  case  of  erbium,  etc.)  there  are  no  linear 
intensifications  in  such  spectra,  that  is,  the  satellite  electrons 
play  such  a  subordinate  part  in  the  transformation  that  their 
periods  are  not  in  evidence.  The  nuclear  perturbations  are  a 
function  of  the  body's  thermal  state.  On  the  contrary,  elec- 
trically produced  luminescence  arises  from  disturbances  which 
affect  the  satellite  electrons,  and  which  do  not  necessarily  touch 
the  electrons  of  the  nuclear  sphere.  The  bright-line  lumi- 
nescence spectrum  may  proceed  from  comparatively  cool 
material.  Somewhat  similar  to  this  is  the  radiant  emission  of 
the  firefly,  where  considerable  radiation  of  short  wave-length 
in  the  form  of  a  broad  spectral  band,  which  if  it  were  thermally 
produced  would  correspond  to  a  temperature  of  several 
thousand  degrees,  is  actually  given  off  at  the  temperature  of 
the  living  body  without  the  corresponding  infra-red  rays  of 
much  greater  total  power  which  are  ordinarily  associated  with 
low-temperature  emission.  This  was  determined  by  direct 
spectro-bolometric  observations  of  the  entire  energy-spectrum 
from  the  visible  rays  through  the  infra-red.* 

The  Dual  Aspect  of  the  Rotating  Electrons  becomes  the 
Ultimate  Origin  of  the  "Two  Electricities." — The  proposed 
hypothesis  of  the  internal  structure  of  an  atom  assumes 
that  the  atom  consists  solely  of  electrons  revolving  in 
orbits,  that  there  is  but  one  sort  of  electron,  though  it  has 
two  aspects,  because  it  is  a  rotating  spherical  mass,  or 
what  is  more  likely,  a  cored  vortex,  or  near-sphere,  of  the 
universal  medium,  and  has  a  definite  volume  and  rotational 
energy  determined  by  the  properties  of  this  medium. 
There  is  but  one  known  sort  of  electron,  and  if  the  fore- 
going definition  be  accepted  there  can  be  no  other.  The 

*See  Langley  and  Very,  "The  Cheapest  Form  of  Light," 
American  Journal  of  Science,  Vol.  XL,  p.  97,  August,  1890. 


i8  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

hypothetical  "positive  electron"  has  never  been  isolated 
simply  because  it  does  not  exist.  The  conception  needs  but 
a  few  minor  details  to  make  it  perfectly  definite  and  simple. 
It  remains  only  to  trace  the  consequences  of  these  assump- 
tions, and  here  there  is  room  for  much  variety  in  the 
compounding  of  motions.  Whatever  atomic  scheme  is 
proposed,  however,  must  conform  in  its  results  and  prop- 
erties to  certain  well  established  physical  and  chemical 
facts.  The  chemical  and  spectroscopic  facts  are  already 
well  on  the  road  towards  explanation  through  the 
hypotheses  in  respect  to  the  orbits  of  satellite  electrons 
which  are  accepted  today.  Naught  but  the  nucleus  need  be 
considered  here. 

An  aggregation  of  electrons  which  all  have  the  same 
electric  properties  will  evidently  tend  to  expand  by  the 
mutual  repulsion  of  the  several  entities,  and  will  be  dis- 
persed unless  controlled  by  some  form  of  consentaneous 
motion  which  shall  overcome  this  dispersive  tendency. 
Given  some  mode  of  limiting  the  dispersal,  the  mutual 
repulsion  of  the  parts  will  nevertheless  tend  to  distribute 
them  into  a  spherical  shell.  Hence  an  atom  composed  of 
electrons  probably  has  the  form  of  a  hollow  sphere,  and 
must  necessarily  possess  an  even  number  of  layers  arranged 
in  pairs  with  opposite  electrification. 

The  electron  itself  has  an  analogous  structure,  since  it  is 
a  spherical  vortex  by  close  approximation,  as  we  shall  see, 
formed  from  the  aura  by  rotation  and  condensed  at  the 
surface  where  it  sustains  the  whole  pressure  of  the  aura 
by  the  centrifugal  force  of  this  rotation,  but  rarefied  within. 

The  interior  of  the  atom  is  filled  with  aura,  that  is,  the 
entire  atom  is  an  electronic  and  ethereal  structure  finited 
by  motion  out  of  the  aura;  and  the  aura  itself  (except  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  electrons)  passes  freely 
through  the  interstices  of  the  structure  and  serves  to 
nourish  it,  to  animate  it  with  energy  ( for  the  aura  is  a 
great  reservoir  of  energy),  and  to  govern  and  define  the 
modes  and  properties  of  the  structure. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  19 

In  1903  Eichenwald  repeated  Rowland's  experiment  with 
modifications,  by  causing  an  electrified  glass  disk,  coated  on 
both  faces  with  metal,  to  revolve.  If  the  dielectric  carries 
the  magnetic  aura  along  with  it,  there  should  be  compensa- 
tion between  the  dielectric  and  metallic  influences  upon  the 
aura,  and  an  absence  of  magnetic  effect.  But  the  magnetic 
effect  was  found,  which  proves  that  the  aura  is  immobile 
in  respect  to  the  motion  of  matter  through  it.  The  sun 
and  planets  are  not  floating  in  the  aura  which  immediately 
surrounds  them,  like  corks  in  a  stream  of  water.  If  the 
universal  magnetic  medium  flows  through  matter,  or  is  not 
set  in  motion  by  the  motion  of  matter  in  material  progres- 
sions, the  medium  may  nevertheless  suffer  a  slight  retarda- 
tion in  the  vicinity  of  the  matter.  This  will  have  the  effect 
of  a  condensation  of  the  aura.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the 
general  motion  of  the  aura  shall  coincide  with  that  of 
the  matter  which  is  contained  within  the  same  volume  of 
space;  for  the  matter  takes  hold  of  an  immense  volume 
of  aura  by  its  gravitational  lines  of  force  and  is  thus  con- 
nected with  and  controlled  by  the  general  aural  movement, 
but  is  independent  of  the  aural  movement  in  the  immediate 
vicinity.  Thus  the  aura  moves  in  its  own  vast  galactic 
sweep  and  exercises  a  large-scale,  or  general  control  over 
the  movements  of  matter,  but  is  independent,  or  as  if  im- 
mobile to  its  lesser  motions. 

The  "Saturnian  Atom"  and  the  "Moseley  Number." — 
The  spherical  surface  of  the  atom  may  be  deformed  into 
an  oblate  spheroid  by  a  sufficiently  rapid  translation  in  the 
direction  of  the  atomic  axis,  but  any  marked  distortion 
from  a  symmetrical  form  would  lead  to  a  breaking  up  of 
the  atom.  Such  distortion,  however,  becomes  difficult  if 
the  electrons  are  in  exceedingly  rapid  orbital  revolution. 
It  is  supposed  by  Bohr  that  certain  electrons  occupy  a  cir- 
cumferential position,  arranged  in  rings  about  the  nucleus 
in  a  common  plane  so  as  to  have  some  analogy  with  the 
rings  of  Saturn,  whence  the  arrangement  has  been  called 
the  "Saturnian  atom,"  that  they  are  thus  revolving  in  orbits 
around  a  central  nucleus,  and  that  the  frequencies  of  line 


20  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

spectra  are  determined  by  perturbations  of  these  satellite 
revolutions.  It  is  also  known  that  the  atom  contains  an 
enormous  amount  of  energy  which  is  invariable  except  in 
radio-active  disruption  of  the  atom.  I  assume  that  this  inner 
invariable  energy  of  atomic  constitution  is  that  of  still  other 
orbital  electronic  revolutions  of  great  velocity  within  a 
central  nucleus  in  which  resides  by  far  the  larger  part  of 
the  mass,  and  whose  stability  is  far  greater  than  that  of  the 
satellite  orbits.  The  latter  are  relatively  few,  and  we  may 
assume  that  their  number  is  that  of  the  Moseley  number, 
characteristic  of  each  element,  which  varies  between  i  for 
hydrogen  and  92  for  uranium.  For  the  moment  we  may 
leave  in  abeyance  the  question  whether  the  orbits  of  the 
characteristic  electrons  which  give  the  Rontgen  rays  of 
the  K  series  are  within  or  outside  of  the  nucleus.  For 
illustration  assume  them  to  be  inside.  Presumably  in  this 
case  the  satellite  system  of  hexavalent  uranium  is  composed 
of  six  concentric  rings  of  electrons,  composed  successively 
from  the  inmost  to  the  outmost  ring  of 

6,  n,  15,  1 8,  20,  22  =  92  satellites. 

This  gives  the  number  six  to  the  inner  ring  in  agreement 
with  the  valency. 

The  nuclear  electrons,  on  the  other  hand,  reach  into  the 
thousands  (uranium,  about  439,000),  and  the  mass  of 
the  atom  is  practically  that  of  its  nucleus.  This  implies 
that  the  electron  is  the  fundamental  gravitational  unit, 
and  that  its  power  of  gravitational  attraction  is  independent 
of  its  position  in  the  atom,  though  the  resultant  inertia  is 
connected  with  the  gyrostatic  properties  of  the  revolving 
and  rotating  electrons. 

Origin  of  the  Gravitational  Impulse. — The  remaining 
problem  is  to  find  a  mode  of  electronic  interaction,  diverse 
from  the  electrical  one,  which  is  capable  of  producing  a 
gravitational  impulse,  and  one  which  shall  not  only  not 
endanger,  but  which  shall  conduce  to  the  stability  of  the 
atom.  Stability  may  conceivably  be  maintained  electrically, 
if  this  were  all,  by  the  juxtaposition  of  two  concentric 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  21 

spherical  shells  of  electrons  revolving  in  parallel  circular 
strands  in  the  same  direction  and  with  the  poles  of  the 
electrons  juxtaposed  in  the  direction  of  the  orbital  motion 
as  aforesaid  (since  it  is  obvious  that  the  planes  of  rotation 
of  the  electrons  must  set  themselves  at  right  angles  to  the 
directing  attractive  forces)  forming  as  many  superficial 
circular  vortex-filaments  by  their  combined  motions  of 
revolution  and  rotation;  while  the  electronic  rotations  are 
opposite  on  the  inner  and  outer  shells,  giving  to  the  mem- 
bers of  a  pair  of  shells  opposite  electricities.  Since  the 
inner  shell  is  slightly  the  smaller  of  the  two,  we  may  sup- 
pose that  it  has  fewer  electrons  and  that  the  satellite  elec- 
trons which  agree  in  electric  charge,  or  direction  of  axial 
rotation,  with  those  of  the  inner  shell  of  the  pair,  are  left 
over  and  are  needed  to  make  up  a  number  equal  to  the  sum 
of  the  electrons  in  the  outer  shell,  thus  providing  for  the 
precise  equalization  of  electric  charges  in  the  neutral  atom. 

It  has  been  held  by  several  theorists  that  gravity  is  of  the 
nature  of  a  longitudinal  wave  of  compression  in  a  universal 
medium.  The  simplest  way  to  account  for  such  a  wave  is 
to  suppose  that  the  electrons  are  pulsating  rapidly,  that  is, 
that  they  alternately  expand  and  contract  equably  on  all 
sides.  I  can  not  see  that  this  will  interfere  in  any  way  with 
the  simultaneous  movements  on  which  the  electric  and 
magnetic  properties  of  the  atom  depend,  while  the  need  of 
a  wholly  independent  origin  for  gravity  seems  obvious. 
But  for  the  urgent  call  for  some  working  gravitational 
hypothesis  of  a  mechanical  sort  to  complete  the  scheme 
resulting  from  the  new  electronic  conceptions,  I  should 
have  no  wish  to  add  one  more  suggestion  to  the  rash,  but 
ambitious  conjectures  on  this  subject  which  have  been 
relegated  to  the  mausoleum  for  dead  whales  in  the  depths 
of  the  sea  of  knowledge. 

If  the  foregoing  hypothesis  is  to  be  accepted,  it  seems 
necessary  to  distinguish  clearly  between  inertia  and  mass. 
An  ether-particle  may  be  pulsating  like  an  electron  and 
may  thus  have  mass,  but  it  lacks  inertia  in  its  own  right, 
unless  vibrating  with  an  oscillatory  motion  and  driven 


22  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

forth  with  the  velocity  of  light  as  luminiferous  ether. 
Being  assumed  to  possess  "mass"  in  a  certain  limited  sense, 
we  must  ask  in  what  way  an  atmosphere  of  bound  ether 
can  be  attached  to,  or  condensed  around  the  atoms.  If  the 
bound  ether  were  that  of  interatomic  radiation,  cold  matter 
should  cease  to  refract  which  is  not  borne  out  by  observa- 
tion. The  presence  of  bound  ether  is  not  manifested  except 
in  so  far  as  it  is  revealed  in  the  refraction  of  light,  where 
the  velocity  of  light  in  the  denser  transparent  media  is 
slower  because  the  "bound  ether"  which  interpenetrates 
their  substance  and  is  never  absent  whether  the  matter  is 
radiating  or  not,  is  denser,  being  more  strongly  attracted 
by  their  heavier  ultimate  particles.  Thus  this  shell  of  ether, 
while  held  to  the  electrons  by  attraction,  acts  almost  as  if 
emitted  by  them  up  to  a  certain  compensating  density,  and 
it  is  only  flung  off  when  some  sudden  change  of  orbital 
motion  occurs.  The  supposition  that  the  shell  is  at  once 
reformed  at  the  expense  of  the  surrounding  aura  relieves 
the  dilemma  arising  from  its  continual  loss  in  the  genera- 
tion of  radiation.  That  there  is  an  intimate  relation  be- 
tween the  refractive  and  the  electric  properties  of  matter 
is  because  ether-corpuscles  and  electrons  are  also  most 
intimately  related. 

Nothing  definite  is  known  at  present  as  to  the  nature  of 
static  electric  charges  upon  a  solid  body,  though  much  is 
known  about  the  electrification  of  a  gas.  The  beautiful 
curled  filamentary  structure  of  certain  high-tension  elec- 
trical discharges  in  air  is  presumably  connected  with  the 
viscosity  of  highly  heated  gases  and  a  tendency  to  the  for- 
mation of  complex  aerial  vortex-rings.  The  testimony  of 
the  electrical  stress-figures  in  resin  obtained  by  J.  W. 
Swan,*  where  the  positive  stresses  simulate  motion  under 
attraction  from  every  direction  towards  a  center,  and  the 
negative  stresses  suggest  an  attempt  at  the  formation  of 
vortex-rings,  or  outgoing  explosive  puffs  in  a  resistant 
medium,  can  be  interpreted  on  my  present  hypothesis 
to  mean  that  the  electrons  have  poles  of  different  sorts; 

*Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  London,  Vol.  LXII,  p.  38,  1897. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  23 

that  there  is  an  indrawing  of  aura  through  a  central 
core  at  one  pole  and  outflow  at  the  other  pole ;  that  in  posi- 
tive electrification  there  is  a  superficial  electric  shell  in 
which  the  electrons  are  so  placed  as  to  have  their  indrawing 
poles  pointing  outwards,  while  in  negative  electrification 
the  opposite  poles  are  on  the  outside  and  there  is  outflow 
towards  the  exterior;  and  that  thus  the  distinction  between 
positive  and  negative  electrification  is  that  between  right- 
handed  and  left-handed  rotations  in  the  superficial  electrons 
which  give  the  charge.  Though  the  electrons  forming  the 
static  charge  are  exceedingly  few  compared  with  those 
making  the  mass  of  the  solid  body,  yet  the  electrical  attrac- 
tions of  the  charge  are  comparable  with  the  gravitational 
attractions  of  the  entire  mass. 

Definite  Statement  and  Illustration  of  the  Electric  Nature 
of  Matter. — As  a  basis  of  atomic  structure,  let  it  be 
assumed,  then,  that  the  atom  is  formed  wholly  of  rotating, 
revolving,  and  pulsating  electrons,  and  that  there  is  but 
one  kind  of  electron,  which  consists  of  a  definite  volume 
of  the  universal  medium  in  rapid  rotation.  This  rotation  of 
the  electron  can  be  viewed  in  either  of  two  aspects;  and 
two  right-handed  whirls  with  their  equators  in  one  plane 
will  repel  each  other  if,  when  moving  in  opposite  directions, 
they  meet  and  are  forced  into  contact,  thereafter  assuming 
opposite  directions  of  motion  at  right  angles  to  the  original 
line  of  approach.  But  right-handed  and  left-handed  whirls, 
that  is,  electrons  which  have  opposite  rotations,  can  have 
their  equators  juxtaposed  in  the  same  plane  and  will 
mutually  attract  each  other.  It  follows  that  there  are  two 
electricities  which  may  be  formed  the  one  from  the  other 
by  a  simple  gyroscopic  uptipping  (at  least  in  theory,  what- 
ever may  be  the  obstacles  to  the  change)  ;  and  thus,  in  order 
that  there  may  be  stable  equilibrium,  the  positive  electricity 
in  an  atom  must  be  closely  conjoined  with  an  equal  amount 
of  negative  electricity ;  for  as  soon  as  one  of  the  corpuscles 
of  the  atom  is  set  free,  it  becomes  indistinguishable  from 
any  other  electron,  whether  coming  from  a  positive  or  a 
negative  source.  The  loss  or  gain  of  even  a  single  electron 


24  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

destroys  electric  equilibrium  and  converts  an  atom  into  a 
positive  or  a  negative  ion  with  strong  chemical  affinity. 

Next,  since  we  have  adopted  the  theory  that  the  mass  of 
the  atom  is  wholly  electrical,  it  follows  that  a  hydrogen 
atom  consists  of  1,844  electrons,*  this  being  the  ratio  of  the 
mass  of  a  hydrogen  atom  to  that  of  an  electron. 

According  to  Bohr's  theory,f  a  hydrogen  atom  consists 
of  a  single  satellite  electron  in  orbital  revolution  around  a 
central  nucleus  which  has  a  positive  charge,  and  with  a 
frequency  of  3,290  million  million  revolutions  per  secondj 
given  by  Lyman's  measurement  of  the  shortest  wave-length 
in  the  hydrogen  spectrum.  This  may  be  accepted,  but  it  is 
not  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  nucleus  is  simple.  Accord- 
ing to  the  preceding  supposition,  the  nucleus  must  consist 
of  922  electrons  rotating  so  as  to  give  positive  electric 
charge  (if  they  were  disposed  after  the  manner  of  a  sur- 
face charge),  combined  with  921  of  the  opposite  rotation 
which  would  give  negative  electrification  if  similarly  dis- 
posed, so  that  the  two  opposite  charges  existing  in  potency 
are  almost  exactly  neutralized,  but  with  a  small  positive 
residual  which  is  the  equivalent  of  the  negative  charge  of 
the  satellite. 

If  the  satellite  revolves  just  outside  the  equatorial  circle 
of  the  nucleus,  the  positive  charge  of  the  outer  layer  pre- 

*In  his  book,  "The  Universe  and  the  Atom,"  Marion  Erwin  has 
given  an  ingenious  but  complicated  scheme  of  an  atom  which 
accounts  for  the  Balmer  series  in  the  spectrum  of  hydrogen  very 
well,  but  demands  as  a  corollary  that  the  hydrogen  atom  shall 
contain  precisely  ( 12 )3-|- 4=  1732  electrons.  Millikan's  latest  result 
for  the  mass  of  the  electron,  which  has  been  obtained  by  methods 
of  extraordinary  accuracy,  definitely  condemns  this  hypothesis. 
Moreover,  by  an  application  of  Kepler's  laws  to  the  electronic 
revolutions  in  the  atom,  Millikan  derives  Rydberg's  number  N,  or 
the  fundamental  frequency  constant,  with  an  accuracy  of  one  part 
in  one  thousand,  and  thus  not  only  gets  the  Balmer  series,  but 
explains  it  in  a  remarkably  si'mple  way. 

f Philosophical  Magazine,  Ser.  6,  Vol.  XXVI,  p.  i,  July,  1913. 

$See  R.  A.  Millikan,  Science,  N.  S.,  Vol.  XLV,  p.  327,  April  6, 
1917. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  25 

vails  sufficiently  to  direct  the  orbit  of  the  satellite  and  to  keep 
it  in  the  equatorial  plane ;  but  stability  requires  that  the  satel- 
lite's rotation  shall  assume  the  relation  of  negative  electricity 
to  the  outer  shell  of  positive  electricity  and  that  the  direction 
of  revolution  shall  be  the  same  in  both.  They  would  also  be 
true  if  the  extra  electron  were  inside  the  atom,.  All  of  the 
revolutions  must  be  congruous  to  avoid  eventual  disruption. 

The  satellite  is  relatively  free,  and  it  is  the  one  electron 
which  may  be  easily  displaced  and  lost  to  the  atom,  when  the 
nucleus  thus  stripped  becomes  a  positive  ion.  The  revolving 
electron  which  has  become  free  is,  I  repeat,  like  any  other  elec- 
tron, simply  because  it  is  emitted  from  what  we  have  agreed 
to  call  the  negative  pole  of  a  source  of  electric  current;  but 
actually  it  has  electric  sign  solely  from  its  association  with 
other  electrons.  This  becomes  evident  if  we  trace  the  conse- 
quences of  a  meeting  of  a  nominally  "positive"  ion  which  has 
lost  its  satellite,  with  a  neutral  atom.  Immediately,  if  the 
revolutions  of  the  electrons  are  congruous,  the  satellite  of  the 
normal  atom  is  shared  by  the  two  nuclei  and  serves  to  bind 
them  together  into  one  molecule,  forming  the  single  bond  of 
chemical  union.  The  normal,  or  neutral,  atom  behaves  as  if 
it  were  negative  in  respect  to  the  positive  ion  and  there  is  the 
electrical  attraction  of  chemical  affinity  between  them;  though, 
but  for  the  shared  electronic  satellite,  the  two  nuclei  would  be 
mutually  repellant  from  the  similarity  of  their  electric  charges. 

If  a  normal  atom  meets  with  another  normal  atom  having 
its  orbital  electronic  revolutions  facing  the  same  way,  can 
the  two  unite  into  a  molecule  with  two  satellite  electrons 
either  satellite  being  displaced  towards  the  intermediate 
plane  parallel  to  the  two  equators,  and  perhaps  coming  into 
equilibrium  on  opposite  sides  of  a  common  orbit?  Appar- 
ently this  is  possible,  but  with  diminished  affinity  owing 
to  a  divided  attraction.*  Two  normal  hydrogen  atoms  with 


*If  H+  represents  an  atom  of  hydrogen  which  has  lost  a  satellite 
electron,  and  H-  represents  a  hydrogen  atom  which  still  retains  its 
extra  negative  electron,  the  constitution  which  Bohr  attributes  to 
the  hydrogen  molecule,  namely,  H_H_  (or  the  above  problemati- 


26  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

congruous  electronic  orbits,  placed  on  either  side  of  a  hydrogen 
ion,  make  the  unstable  molecule  (H3)  having  two  satellites,  for 
whose  existence  under  favorable  circumstances  there  is  satis- 
factory evidence. 

Probable  Explanation  of  the  Thermal  Periodicity  of  the 
Elements. — The  theory  of  complex  concentric  vortices, 
elaborated  by  Hicks,  gives  a  possible  explanation  of  some 
of  the  thermal  properties  of  the  elements;  but  it  rests  upon 
the  hypothesis  of  a  continuous  irrotational  fluid  whose  vorticity 
changes  at  certain  concentric  surfaces  within  the  atom,  and 
takes  no  account  of  discrete  electrons,  each  a  precise  replica 
of  all  the  others.  In  the  effort  to  see  whether  the 
conception  of  Hicks  might  not  be  adapted  to  the 
new  knowledge  I  was  led  to  consider  that  a  group  of 
electrons  of  the  same  name  must  tend  to  expand  into  a 
shell  by  mutual  repulsion  of  the  constituents  of  the  group; 
yet  this  shell  might  be  restrained  from  dissipation  by 
further  expansion,  if  it  were  conjoined  with  a  concentric 
shell  of  opposite  electrification.  Moreover,  such  a  struc- 
ture may  be  repeated  several  times,  thus  giving  the  several 
repetitions  in  the  thermal  properties  demanded  by  the 
thermo-chemical  relations  of  the  elements.  To  hold  such 


cal  molecule),  is  hardly  likely  to  exist  permanently  according  to 
accepted  electro-chemical  doctrine,  because  the  two  negative  elec- 
trons repel  each  other  and  tend  to  split  the  molecule.  But  the 
molecule.  H+  H_  should  be  entirely  stable,  and  it  serves  the  pur- 
pose of  Bohr's  theory  equally  well  if  we  suppose  that,  in  the  ion- 
ization  of  the  molecule,  the  negative  atom  alone  loses  its  extra 
negative  electron  by  the  step-to-step  process  of  orbital  shifting, 
becoming  in  this  way  similar  to  its  companion  atom.  If  a  single 
electron  (e)  is  shared  between  two  atoms,  the  successive  stages  of 
ionization  are: 

H+H_  =  H'H  =  H,  H«  =  H,  H,  e. 

The  intermediate  stage  gives  no  spectrum,  but  the  last  or  ac- 
tively transitional  one  gives  the  Balmer  Series.  It  is  also  prob- 
able that  under  certain  rare  conditions,  the  hydrogen  atom  may 
retain  two  negative  electrons  and  give  the  series  of  lines  in  the 
spectrum  of  V  Puppis. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  27 

an  assortment  together  as  one  piece  in  spite  of  the  tremen- 
dous energies  demanded  by  internal  revolutions,  is  not  a 
simple  proposition;  but  possibly  the  thing  may  be  accom- 
plished if  we  postulate  a  medium  back  of  the  electrons  with 
a  complex  vortical  flow,  somewhat  analogous  to  the  Hicks 
plan,  which  controls  the  electronic  motions.  It  is  necessary 
to  assume  that  at  each  reversal  of  vorticity,  there  is  an 
uptilting  and  reversal  of  spin  in  the  electrons,  considered 
to  resemble  gyroscopes,  if  the  expansive  force  acts  at  right 
angles  to  the  directive  force.  According  to  gyroscopic 
analogies,  the  electrons  can  rotate  either  right-handed  or 
left-handed  with  equal  facility  as  long  as  the  plane  of 
rotation  is  normal  to  the  direction  of  revolutionary  motion 
which  is  that  of  the  directive  force;  but  if  shifted  radially 
in  the  instantaneous  direction  of  the  plane  of  rotation,  the 
electron  so  urged  is  liable  to  be  overturned  as  in  a  well- 
known  gyroscopic  experiment.  The  reversal  of  the  elec- 
tron's rotation  requires  the  expenditure  of  one  of  Planck's 
units  of  work. 

Of  the  hypothetical  system  of  concentric  vortices  which 
has  been  mathematically  computed  for  an  assumed  irrota- 
tional  medium,  Hicks  himself  says:  "If  vortex  atoms  are 
realities,  the  exact  quantitative  theory  developed  in  this 
paper  can  not  accord  with  actual  facts,  because  it  is  de- 
veloped with  reference  to  a  surrounding  irrotational  ether, 
which  can  not  be  the  case  in  nature.  Nevertheless,  many  of 
the  general  properties  would  doubtless  be  similar."* 

In  the  atom  which  we  are  considering,  the  stream  lines 
are  "lines  of  flow"  of  the  electrons,  but  not  of  their  con- 
stituent medium,  because  the  components  of  electronic 
rotation,  or  spin,  do  not  vanish  as  they  are  supposed  to 
do  in  irrotational  motion,  and  stream  and  vortex  lines  can 
not  "fold  together,  cross,  and  expand"  in  continuity  at  a 
limit.  Still,  even  though  the  gyroscopic  reversals  are  sud- 
den, there  is  a  decided  analogy  to  the  condition  postulated 

^"Researches  in  Vortex  Motion.  Part  III.  On  Spiral  or  Gyro- 
static  Vortex  Aggregates."  By  W.  M.  Hicks,  F.R.S.  Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  London,  Vol.  LXII,  p.  335,  February  3,  1898. 


28  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

by  Hicks.  I  will  merely  note  that  the  alkali  metals  which 
are  placed  at  the  maxima  of  Lothar  Meyer's  curve  of  atomic 
volumes,  or  in  positions  which,  according  to  my  supposi- 
tion, mark  strong  intensification  of  those  thermal  proper- 
ties which  are  given  by  nuclear  constitution,  are  of  all  the 
elements  those  which  are  most  prone  to  give  a  mixed  flame 
spectrum  in  which  the  bright  lines  are  accompanied  by  a 
strong  superposed  continuous  spectrum,  and  they  are 
thermally  expanded  atoms.  These  atoms  are  therefore  at 
nodal  points  of  the  interior  organization  of  their  nuclei, 
each  corresponding  to  the  successive  addition  of  a  new 
pair  of  electronic  shells  in  the  order  of  increasing  steps  in 
the  atomic  weight. 

Professor  W.  M.  Thornton*  finds  that  "the  periodic 
curves  of  density  and  atomic  volume  both  have  the  inflec- 
tion characteristic  of  hysteresis.  They  can  be  built  up  on 
the  assumption  that  the  internal  force  by  which  atoms  are 
held  together  passes  through  a  simple  periodic  change  and 
that  in  the  resultant  change  of  atomic  volume  there  is 
structural  hysteresis."  Hydrogen,  boron,  aluminum,  cop- 
per, ruthenium  and  osmium,  which  are  the  densest  atoms 
of  their  respective  thermal  periods,  have  their  atomic 
weights  proportional  to  the  cubes  of  the  first  six  natural 
numbers.  Presumably,  the  most  complex  atom,  uranium, 
has  six  rings  of  supernumerary  electrons,  arranged  in  one 
orbital  plane,  and  six  pairs  of  electronic  concentric  spherical 
shells,  or  what  may  be  likened  to  a  twelve-storied  structure, 
and  it  is  doubtful  if  any  larger  number  of  stories  can  exist 
in  an  atom. 

The  thermal  relations  of  the  atoms  appear  to  be  those  of 
their  central  nuclei,  both  as  to  chemical  properties  and  as  -to 
those  radiations  which  are  especially  caused  by  heat.  Per- 
haps this  is  what  Swedenborg  glimpsed  when  he  assigned 
heat  to  a  "central  motion  of  particles." 

*"The  Curves  of  the  Periodic  Law,"  Philosophical  Mag.  far 
July,  1917,  p.  70. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER:   (II)   ITS  RELATION 
TO  THE  ATOM 

The  particles  of  ether  may  be  produced  out  of  the  aura  by 
some  modification,  perhaps  involving  a  virtual  condensation  of 
the  aura;  but  the  process  has  not  reached  any  final  limit,  for 
the  ether-particles  remain  highly  elastic,  and  if  there  is  a  shell 
of  ether  around  each  atom,  it  is  compressible  since  the  density 
of  the  bound  ether  in  matter  varies.  It  may  be  admitted  that 
we  do  not  know  just  what  ethereal  "density"  means,  and  that 
it  is  probably  a  concentration  of  some  electrical  property. 
Just  as  spongy  platinum,  by  the  powerful  attraction  of  its 
atoms  and  the  large  surfaces  of  its  porosities,  condenses  gases 
in  its  pores,  and  thus  by  its  presence  has  the  same  effect  as  an 
increase  of  pressure  and  favors  chemical  union  of  certain 
gases  where  this  union  is  facilitated  by  pressure; — so  the 
heavier  atoms  condense  the  so-called  ether  in  the  interatomic 
spaces,  and  this  is  done  so  nearly  in  proportion  to  the  atomic 
weight  that  it  is  possible  to  predict  the  refractive  index  with 
approximation  from  the  known  atomic  constitution  of  a  sub- 
stance in  unit  volume,  though  more  closely  from  the  electric 
properties.  It  is  indifferent  whether  different  atoms  are 
chemically  united  or  merely  mixed,  as  far  as  refractive  prop- 
erties are  concerned.  Hence  the  ability  to  condense  ether 
resides  directly  in  the  atoms.  The  denser  "bound  ether"  exerts 
greater  electric  inductance  on  the  vibrating  ether  which  tra- 
verses it  and  thus  retards  the  passage  of  light.  Though  readily 
thrust  aside,  the  bound  ether  "particles"  can  not  be  dispelled  by 
other  particles  of  their  own  order  of  magnitude  without  suf- 
fering some  oscillatory  disturbance ;  and  this  oscillation  of  the 
bound  ether-particle  is  itself  electro-magnetic  and  reacts  on  the 
electric  oscillation  of  the  light-bearing  ether-particle*  with  its 

*If  we  call  the  direction  of  advance  the  "polar"  axis  of  the  par- 
ticle, any  oscillation  in  the  equatorial  plane  would  be  equally  di- 
vided between  transverse  and  parallel  vibrations  in  respect  to  a 
meridional  plane,  and  polarization  in  this  case  would  be  impossible; 
but  a  meridional  oscillation  may  be  either  transverse  or  parallel  to 
a  given  meridional  plane.  The  fact  of  luminous  polarization  there- 

29 


30  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

reciprocating  magnetic  vortex  in  such  a  way  as  to  retard  its 
onward  progression. 

Since  oscillating  or  rotating  ether  not  only  possesses  ethereal 
mass,  but  also  electro-magnetic  inertia,  the  ether,  considered 
as  an  interatomic  medium,  is  a  substance  which  offers  no 
resistance  to  the  mechanical  motion  of  atoms  which  do  not  set 
it  rotating,  or  oscillating  in  the  special  luminous  mode,  but 
possesses  electro-magnetic  inertia  for  luminous  motions 
which  cause  its  particles  to  oscillate  luminously.  Simi- 
larly, though  the  advance  of  a  broad  surface  composed  of 
many  molecules  with  their  atoms  and  electrons  can  not  cause 
a  single  ether-particle  to  rotate  (because  the  dimensions  of  the 
two  are  on  a  totally  different  scale  of  magnitude),  motions  of 
individual  electrons  which  are  of  a  like  order  of  magnitude 
with  the  ether-particles  and  which  are  not  self -compensatory, 
are  competent  to  impart  to  the  ether  temporary  electric  inertia 
and  momentum.  Thus  the  supposed  ether,  though  having  no 
inertia  of  its  own,  is  bound  to  matter  by  having  imposed  upon 
it  a  portion  of  the  inertia  of  electronic  movement  sufficient,  at 
any  rate,  to  cause  some  adhesion  of  the  bound  ether  to  material 
particles. 

There  is  also  some  temporarily  associated  ether  of  another 
sort,  for  even  in  solid  bodies  at  ordinary  temperatures,  there 
is,  in  addition  to  the  thermal  energy  of  molecular  vibrations 
mechanically  transferred,  some  low-temperature  radiation  be- 
tween the  molecules;  and  as  I  have  shown  elsewhere  in  treat- 
ing of  gaseous  radiation,  this  internal  radiation  becomes  of  ex- 
ceptional prominence  and  importance  in  the  gaseous  atmos- 
phere. To  this  extent,  at  any  rate,  even  the  radiant  ether  may 
be  bound  to  matter. 

Various  theorists  have  speculated  as  to  whether  the  light- 
bearing  ether  does  or  does  not  possess  mass.  Clerk 
Maxwell  has  assured  us  that  light  has  momentum  and 


fore  decides  that  the  vibration  of  the  polarized  light  is  a  meridi- 
onal oscillation.  The  plane  of  vibration  may,  however,  be  mag- 
netically rotated  in  an  equatorial  direction  as  in  the  Kerr  effect. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  31 

therefore  the  ether  must  have  both  mass  and  inertia  as 
long  as  it  transports  light;  and  he  even  went  so  far  as  to 
assign  to  the  free  ether  a  definite  density  in*  the  ordinary 
sense. 

Luigi  d'Auria,f  considering  the  extent  of  space  and 
assuming  it  to  be  filled  with  ether,  thought  that  the  gravi- 
tative  action  of  the  whole  ether  would  suffice  to  account 
for  stellar  motions;  but  since  he  enormously  underrated 
the  immensity  of  space  (in  confining  it  to  a  radius  of  about 
2,000  light-years)  and  also  misunderstood  Maxwell  whose 
ethereal  density  was  referred  to  water  as  unity  and  not  to 
air,  d'Auria's  computation  is  of  no  value.  Maxwell's 
density  also  contained  a  small  numerical  error,  as  I  pointed 
out  in  my  "Cosmic  Cycle" J,  but  this  is  a  mere  bagatelle 
compared  with  the  gratuitous  assumptions  which  he  has 
made  in  getting  any  density  at  all  of  the  material  sort  for 
the  interstellar  medium, 

G.  A.  Him,  in  his  "Constitution  de  1'Espace  Celeste,"  has 
given  elaborate  computations  of  the  action  of  a  resisting 
medium  upon  the  motion  of  the  planets  and  has  demon- 
strated that  the  large  material  mass  assigned  to  an  inter- 
planetary medium  by  Siemens  and  others,  is  an  impossi- 
bility. But  the  conclusion  that  the  light-bearing  ether  has 
no  mass  does  not  follow-  The  work  of  Him,  however, 
proves  that  an  ether  possessing  such  ethereal  mass  as  is 
required  for  the  various  ethereal  functions  does  not  fill  all 
space  in  the  form  of  a  continuous  medium  as  was  formerly 
supposed.  Whatever  ethereal  atmospheres  there  may  be 
are  strictly  limited  to  the  immediate  vicinity  of  massive 
bodies.  An  atmosphere  of  free  ether  particles,  since  these  \ 
have  mass  but  not  inertia,  might  be  expected  to  follow  a  ; 
planet,  but  not  to  share  in  its  rotation.  Such  an  atmosphere 
might  be  somewhat  more  extensive  than  the  atmosphere 
of  air. 

* 

*In  his  article  "-Either"  in  the  9th  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica. 

\Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  October,  1897. 
^American  Journal  of  Science  [4]  Vol.  XIII,  p.  192,  1902. 


32  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

This  doctrine  of  the  limitation  of  ethereal  atmospheres 
to  spheres  greater  than  the  aerial,  but  still  confined  to  the 
neighborhood  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  was  held  by  Sweden- 
borg,  was  formerly  peculiar  to  him,  and  probably  con- 
tributed to  the  rejection  of  his  theory  of  the  luminiferous 
ether  for  nearly  two  hundred  years,  because,  at  least  during 
the  Nineteenth  Century,  it  was  accepted  almost  as  an  axiom 
that  light  is  propagated  through  a  continuous  medium 
filling  all  space,  and  by  transverse  waves  in  this  medium; 
and  therefore,  since  the  stars  send  us  light,  it  was  supposed 
that  the  luminiferous  medium  must  extend  beyond  them. 
We  need  not  abandon  the  idea  of  a  universal  interstellar 
atmosphere,  but  it  is  not  the  atmosphere  which  conveys 
light.  The  new  doctrine  of  discrete  light  "quanta,"  though 
it  may  be  non-committal  as  to  the  precise  nature  of  the 
luminous  entity,  rejects  the  supposed  continuity  of  a  lumi- 
niferous medium,  but  harmonizes  well  with  Swedenborg's 
definition  and  with  the  function  which  he  attributed  to  the 
ethereal  particle. 

The  revival  of  a  modified  corpuscular  theory  of  light  no 
longer  compels  us  to  explain  the  aberration  of  light  on  the 
undulatory  theory  by  "the  rather  startling  hypothesis  that 
the  luminiferous  aether  passes  freely  through  the  sides  of 
the  telescope  and  through  the  earth  itself"  ;*  and  while  the 
meaning  of  the  Michelson-Morley  experiment  has  been 
much  debated,  its  result  is  at  least  in  harmony  with  the 
supposition  that  a  shell  of  bound  ether  is  attached  to,  and 
is  carried  along  by  every  atom  and  thus,  by  summation, 
by  the  earth  as  a  whole  in  its  motion  (though  not  as  a 
rotating  external  atmosphere  which,  however,  does  not 
enter  into  the  light  equation)  ;  but  this  bound  ether  is 
not  the  ether  which  conveys  light  from  outside  sources. 
This  follows  also  from  the  result  of  Lord  Rayleigh's 
inquiry:  "Does  Motion  through  the  ^Ether  cause  Double 
Refraction  ?"f  confirmed  with  even  more  delicate  precau- 

*G.  G.  Stokes,  Philosophical  Magazine,  [3]  Vol.  XXVII,  p.  9, 
July,  1845. 

]  Philosophical  Magazine,  [6]  Vol.  IV,  p.  678,  December,  1902. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  33 

tions  by  D.  B.  Brace.*  These  experiments  show  that  the  ether 
concerned  in  refraction  is  bound  to  the  earth  and  travels  with  it 
through  space. 

As  Stokes  pointed  out  in  the  above  paper,  the  adoption  of  a 
corpuscular  theory  of  light  makes  the  aberration  of  light  a 
very  simple  thing,  while  the  hypothesis  of  luminous  transverse 
vibrations  in  a  quasi-solid  and  yet  fluid  medium,  puts  a  heavy 
strain  on  our  credulity. 

Foucault's  experiment  which  showed  that  light  travels  more 
slowly  through  transparent  bodies  of  greater  density,  than  it 
does  through  bodies  of  feeble  density,  demonstrated  that  the 
density  of  the  included  ether  must  vary  through  a  considerable 
range  according  as  it  is  associated  with  dense  or  with  rarined 
matter.  This  "density  of  the  ether,"  however,  does  not  refer 
to  that  of  the  particles  themselves.  They  may  be  not  only 
elastic,  but  expansile  and  contractile,  though  through  a  very 
minute  range.  As  light-quanta  in  free  space,  they  presum- 
ably have  the  same  size  as  electrons,  according  to  the  hypo- 
thesis of  their  origin  which  has  been  presented  in  this  paper, 
though  the  electron  is  rendered  rigid  by  its  rapid  axial  rota- 
tion, while  the  non-rotating  ether  is  yielding. 

Fessenden,  assuming  that  the  electronic  charges  are  the 
sole  cause  of  the  mass,  and  their  motions,  of  the  inertia  of 
matter,  calculates  from  J.  J.  Thomson's  formula  for  the 
electrically  produced  inertia  of  a  charged  sphere,  that 
the  electron  is  "about  J4XIO'13  cms.f  in  diameter.  The 
ionic  equivalent  being  about  4  (±i)  X  io~10  e.  s.  units  [now 
more  accurately  fixed  by  Millikan  at  £—4.774  (±.005)  X 
icr10]  we  find  the  electrostatic  tension  and  pressure  at  the 
surface  of  the  corpuscle,  about  2Xio32  dynes." J  The  re- 
vised measurement  of  the  electron's  radius  makes  this  more 
nearly  io33  dynes.  With  this  relatively  enormous  pressure 
at  the  surface  of  the  electron,  it  is  necessary  that  the  volume- 

*  Philosophical  Magazine,  [6]  Vol.  VII,  p.  317.  April,  1904. 

fj.  J.  Thomson  gives  for  the  radius  of  an  electron  "  about  10"18 
cm."  (Conduction  of  Electricity  through  Gases.  2d  Edn..  p.  655). 
Millikan  (The  Electron,  p.  251)  gets  for  this  radius,  1.9xlO~18  cm. 

^Science,  N.  S.,  Vol.  XII,  p.  743,  November  16,  1900. 


34  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

elasticity  shall  be  as  great  as  io73,  if  the  electron  is  not  to  col- 
lapse entirely;  and  this  represents  the  electronic  volume- 
elasticity  resulting  from  the  elasticity  of  the  aura.  It  is  by 
virtue  of  this  wonderful,  almost  infinite  elasticity  that  the 
aura  is  able  to  vibrate  gravitationally  with  a  periodicity  com- 
parable to  that  of  light,  through  space  of  galactic  dimensions. 

The  force  required  to  produce  the  electric  condensation  at 
the  surface  of  the  electron  must  be  balanced  by  the  equal  in- 
ternal spring  of  the  electron's  volume-elasticity.  The 
numerical  ratio  of  volume  to  surface  being  that  of  the  cube  to 
the  square,  and  since  the  surface  of  an  electron  is  about  icr25 
sq.  cm.,  we  have  approximately 

(surface  pressure)  3/2 

volume-elasticity  of  electron  =  -    —7 — :— 7— : 

surface  of  electron 

(io32)  3/2 
=  - ^—  =  io73. 

1Q-25 

Professor  Fessenden  suggests  that  the  size  of  an  electron 
is  determined  by  the  fact  that  the  breaking  strain  of  the  ether 
is  reached  at  this  point,  so  that  any  further  electric  condensa- 
tion is  impossible.  I  would  also  suggest  that  probably  the 
rotation  of  the  electron  at  its  surface  boundary  attains  the 
speed  of  light,  and  that  this  is  why  when  the  electron  is  stript 
of  its  superficial  layer  of  ether,  the  latter  is  flung  off  with  the 
same  speed.  Also  that  the  velocity  of  electronic  rotation  is  the 
same  at  all  points  of  the  surface  of  the  particle,  so  that  the 
angular  velocity  increases  from  the  equator  to  the  poles,  being 


2  Xi  OX  i~:™==  ^GoXio22  revolutions  per  second 

at  the  equator,  if  we  adopt  Millikan's  value  of  the  radius 
of  the  electron.  This  is  about  1,000  times  as  great  as  the 
frequency  of  the  characteristic  vibrations  of  the  lighter 
atoms.  Hence  the  angular  velocity  of  the  orbital  revolu- 
tions of  these  electrons  is  presumably  less  than  that  of  their 
rotations. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  35 

The  configuration  of  this  superficial  electronic  motion 
is  similar  to  that  which  Swedenborg  assigns  to  his  ele- 
mentary vortical  particles  (mentioned  ante  p.  9).  An  ex- 
ample of  a  particular  case  of  such  motion  may  be  seen  in 
my  notes  to  the  new  English  edition  of  the  Principia*  In 
his  doctrine  of  forms  Swedenborg  describes  a  fifth  natural 
form,  superior  to  the  vortical,  "by  which  one  thing  regards 
another  as  well  as  itself,  nor  is  there  anything  but  what 
consults  the  general  strength  and  concord."f  On  the  low- 
est plane  of  nature,  this  form  exhibits  itself  in  the  gravita- 
tional wave  by  which  each  particle  is  united  and  consociated 
with  all  the  particles  in  its  galactic  cell.  Thence  comes  the 
interaction  and  universality  of  natural  law.  Nature  is  not 
diverse,  here  of  one  sort,  but  elsewhere  totally  different  and 
unrelated.  Nature  is  one  and  the  same  throughout  her 
vast  complexes,  and  this  unity  appears  to  require  some  such 
fundamental  singularity  as  that  of  the  form  of  motion  and 
the  size  of  the  electrons  which  must  everywhere  be  precise 
duplicates. 

The  origin  of  a  light-quantum  I  conceive  to  be  the 
gyroscopic  uptilting  and  reversal  of  an  electron,  accom- 
panied by  reversal  of  electric  sign.  If  the  center  of  rota- 
tion of  a  gyroscope  is  revolved  in  the  direction  of  no  re- 
sistance, there  is  no  uptilting;  but  revolution  in  the  opposite 
direction  experiences  resistance  which  reverses  the  spin. 
Similarly,  a  rotating  electron  may  be  carried  around  an 
orbit  and  brought  back  to  its  original  position  without  per- 
forming work;  but  to  reverse  the  plane  of  the  electron's 
rotation  requires  the  expenditure  of  one  of  Planck's  least 
quantities  of  energy,  and  this  means  that  resistance  has 
been  encountered.  The  quicker  the  reversal,  the  more  in- 
tense is  the  radiation;  but  the  period  of  the  vibration 
appears  to  depend  on  some  function  of  the  radius  of  the 
electronic  orbit.  The  simplest  supposition  is  that  the 

*Appendix  A.  Vol.  II,  Fig.  4  a,  p.  623. 

fFor  illustrations  of  this  see  my  paper  in  the  New-Church  Re- 
view, Vol.  XIX,  p.  256. 


36  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

radiant  period  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  electronic  revolu- 
tion, but  this  does  not  necessarily  follow. 

Where  many  electrons  are  closely  associated,  it  is  diffi- 
cult, or  almost  impossible  to  overturn  a  single  electron 
without  at  the  same  time  effecting  a  similar  overturning  in 
a  multitude  of  others;  but  the  few  electrons  whose  group 
is  denoted  by  the  Moseley  number,  are  relatively  free.  Each 
executes  its  own  period,  though,  even  here,  the  mutual 
relations  of  attraction  and  repulsion  which  tend  to  preserve 
stable  relative  positions,  can  not  be  disturbed  by  the  mis- 
placement of  a  single  electron  without  starting  a  series  of 
vibrations  which  give  complicated  line-spectra  through 
the  complex  perturbations  of  the  group.  lonization  of  the 
atom  is  an  inevitable  concomitant  of  the  operation,  that  is, 
the  radiating  atom  either  loses  or  gains  one  or  more 
electrons. 

The  adoption  of  the  assumption  that  the  electron  repre- 
sents the  greatest  possible  condensation  of  electric  force, 
and  that  there  is  only  one  kind  of  electron,  along  with 
Fessenden's  conception  that  its  size  (and  therefore  its 
electric  charge)  is  conditioned  by  the  breaking  strain  of 
the  ether,  leads  readily  to  my  thesis  that  the  electron  has  a 
rotation  and  a  peculiar  form  of  vortical  motion  similar  to 
Swedenborg's  elementary  particle,  and  furnishes  a  reason 
why  it  should  have  this  peculiar  form.  In  fact,  no  other 
form  would  fit  the  demand  that  the  surface  shall  every- 
where have  the  rotary  velocity  which  is  fundamental  in  the 
physics  of  the  ether  and  definitive  of  the  relation  between 
electrostatics  and  electromagnetics.  My  further  proviso 
that  an  ethereal  electronic  sheath  is  cast  off  under  shock 
at  the  moment  of  reversal  of  electric  sign,  which  reversal 
is  the  origin  of  the  reciprocating  magnetic  field  of  the 
luminous  particle,  and  that  the  sheath  becomes  an  ether- 
particle  having  the  same  significant  rectilinear  velocity  as 
the  circulatory  velocity  of  the  electron's  surface,  also 
accounts  for  the  fixed  value  of  the  energy-constant,  equiva- 
lent to  the  light-quantum,  and  defines  it  as  the  energy 
required  to  overturn  and  change  the  sign  of  an  electron. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  37 

The  same  is  in  perfect  agreement  with,  and  satisfactorily  in- 
terprets the  well  known  law  that  "positive  and  negative  elec- 
trical charges  always  appear  simultaneously  and  in  exactly 
equal  amounts" ;  for  if  positive  and  negative  electricity  are  but 
two  different  aspects  of  one  and  the  same  electric  unit,  the 
separation  of  a  pair  of  electrons  must  inevitably  give  equal  and 
opposite  electrical  charges. 

Though  not  expressed  in  identical  terms,  my  supposition 
that  Planck's  least  quantum  of  energy  represents  the  resistance 
which  an  electron  offers  to  a  gyroscopic  uptilting  with  reversal 
of  electric  sign,  agrees  in  a  general  way  with  Fessenden's 
hypothesis  that  Planck's  "h"  represents  a  gyroscopic  reversal 
of  vorticity.* 

Swedenborg  had  the  idea  of  "small  corpuscles  which  float 
in  the  ether  and  continually  issue  from  the  hard  body;  thus 
the  ether  is  urged  into  a  whirling  motion  at  a  distance  from  its 
body,  and  this  causes  light,  and  to  a  certain  degree,  electricity. 
For  no  bodies  exist  which  are  not  in  some  way  or  other  pene- 
trated by  the  ether."f  Though  somewhat  vaguely  stated,  if 
the  "whirling  motion"  is  thought  of  as  a  vortex  filament  in  the 
magnetic  medium,  and  the  "corpuscles"  as  Thomsonian  cor- 
puscles, or  electrons,  this  corresponds  to  the  present  conception 
of  a  static  electrical  charge  on  the  surface  of  a  "hard  body" 
with  its  attendant  Faraday  "lines  of  force."  Swedenborg's 
version,  that  "in  order  for  anything  to  be  electric  and  attract 
very  light  bodies,  a  certain  circular  motion  is  necessary  in  the 
ether,"  also  accords  with  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson's  interpretation  of 
an  electric  line  of  force,  namely,  that  electric  attraction  is  to 
be  ascribed  to  the  tendency  of  vortex  filaments  in  an  inter- 
vening medium  to  shorten  themselves. 

Benjamin  Franklin,  according  to  Millikan  ("The  Electron," 
p.  15),  was  the  first  to  express  his  belief  in  the 
existence  of  a  definite  electrical  particle,  where  he  says: 
"The  electrical  matter  consists  of  particles  extremely  subtle, 

*R.  A.  Fessenden  on  "  Gyroscopic  Quanta,"  Science,  N.  S.,  Vol. 
XXXIX.  p.  533,  April  10,  1914. 

^Principia,  new  English  edition,  Vol.  II,  p.  221. 


38  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

since  it  can  permeate  common  matter,  even  the  densest,  with 
such  freedom  and  ease  as  not  to  receive  any  appreciable  resist- 
ance/' I  have  not  been  able  to  verify  this  quotation  in  any 
work  by  Franklin  to  which  I  have  access.  In  his  note  on  "Pro- 
tection from  Lightning,"  written  at  Paris  in  September,  1767, 
Franklin  says :  "The  matter  of  lightning,  or  of  electricity,  is  an 
extreme  subtle  fluid,  pentrating  other  bodies,  and  subsisting  in 
them  equally  diffused."  This  says  nothing  about  electric 
particles. 

Swedenborg,  at  any  rate,  declared  that  the  light-bearing 
ether  was  made  of  corpuscles  and  associated  them  in  an  in- 
definite way  with  certain  other  "corpuscles"  which  somehow 
were  connected  with  electricity.  This  is  exceedingly  vague, 
but  in  my  view  it  contains  an  adumbration  of  the  truth.  Mean- 
while, in  the  gradual  dawn  of  the  scientific  day,  Swedenborg's 
"corpuscles"  and  Franklin's  particles  of  "electric  matter,"  more 
subtle  than  common  matter,  have  become  the  "electrons"  of 
Johnstone  Stoney,  and  the  "corpuscles"  of  J.  J.  Thomson;  and 
at  the  hands  of  the  latter  investigator  vague  hypothesis  has 
given  way  to  experimental  demonstration  and  exact  quantita- 
tive measurement. 

Is  Entropy  always  One-Sided? — For  the  last  half  century 
it  has  been  recognized  that  a  certain  sum  total  of  energy  may 
be  divided  into  two  parts,  namely,  the  free  or  available  energy, 
and  the  entropy;  and  that  the  available  energy  of  sun  or  earth 
is  continually  diminishing,  while  more  and  more  of  energy  es- 
capes into  the  aura,  there  to  be  stored  up  as  entropy  which, 
according  to  Clausius,  is  a  continually  increasing  quantity  tend- 
ing to  a  maximum,  while  the  free  energy  of  every  material  con- 
figuration either  remains  the  same,  or  diminishes.  It  can  in 
no  wise  be  increased  by  human  effort. 

The  thermal  mechanism  of  matter  has  been  likened  to  a 
clock  which  is  slowly  running  down;  but  as  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge  has  said:  "It  would  seem  as  if  the  second  law  of 
thermodynamics  must  be  somewhere  disobeyed — at  least 
if  the  age  of  the  universe  is  both  ways  infinite — else  the 
final  consummation  would  have  already  arrived."  This 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  39 

dilemma  has  been  considered  in  my  paper :  "What  becomes 
of  the  Light  of  the  Stars?"*  and  I  think  it  is  now  fairly 
certain  that  matter  is  gradually  destroyed  and  converted 
into  ethereal  energy  of  radiation,  which,  in  turn,  is  grad- 
ually absorbed  as  it  passes  through  the  universal  medium, 
or  aura,  again  originating  matter  in  its  incipient  forms. f 

We  have  then  to  recognize  a  reversal  of  the  original 
entropy  proposition,  namely,  a  building-up  at  this  stage, 
in  place  of  a  tearing-down;  for  how  would  it  be  possible 
for  the  universe  to  endure  unless  both  operations  were 
actual?  We  may  admit  that  in  the  part  of  the  universe  in 
which  we  are  placed,  the  tearing-down  operation  is  going 
on;  but  it  follows  on  any  rational  supposition  that  there 
must  be  other  parts  of  the  universe  where  the  building-up 
of  a  renewed  system  takes  place,  where  the  first  rudiments 
of  matter  are  coalescing  and  developing  into  gaseous  atoms 
and  molecules,  or  into  meteoritic  crystals  and  are  aggregat- 
ing into  nebulae,  stars,  and  groups  of  stars,  star-clusters  and 
galaxies. 

Gravitational  Relationships. — This  is  not  the  place  to 
discuss  at  length  the  origin  of  matter,  but  something  must 
be  said  concerning  the  gravitational  fields  of  the  electrons 
and  ether-particles,  which  there  is  reason  to  suppose  are 

^Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  LXXXII,  p.  289,  March,  1913. 

"]"Mr.  Harlow  Shapley  has  announced  (Proc.  National  Academy  of 
Sciences.  Vol.  II.  p.  14,  Nov.  17,  1915)  that  the  frequency  of  colors 
in  the  star  cluster  Messier  13  shows  conclusively  that  there  is  no 
selective  absorption  of  light  in  space  (a  conclusion  which  I  had 
already  reached  on  other  grounds  in  my  paper,  "  What  becomes  of 
the  Light  of  the  Stars?  ").  But  his  further  statement  that  "  in 
the  light  of  this  result  we  are  probably  justified  in  assuming  that 
the  non-selective  absorption  in  space  (obstruction)  is  also  negligi- 
ble "  (Op.  cit.,  p.  15),  though  it  may  be  justified  if  by  "  obstruction  " 
is  meant  a  non-selective  cutting  out  of  light  by  particles  too  coarse 
to  exert  any  selective  influence,  fails  to  cover  the  more  general 
non-selective  absorption  of  light  by  the  aura  which  fills  all  space. 
The  existence  of  this  absorption  is  shown  in  my  examination  of 
the  white  nebulae,  "  Are  the  White  Nebulee  Galaxies?  "  quite  as 
stronglv  as  the  non-existence  of  selective  absorption  is  shown  by  the 
other  argument. 


40  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

limited  to  a  single  galactic  cell.*  Lodge  computes  that  if 
there  could  be  substituted  for  the  gravitational  pull  of  the 
sun  which  holds  the  earth  in  its  orbit,  an  elastic  pull  through 
steel  rods  and  within  their  breaking  strength,  it  would  take 
"a  million  million  round  rods  or  pillars  each  thirty  feet  in 
"diameter"  to  stand  the  strain.f  This  strain  is  not  carried 
by  a  narrow  beam  of  aura  intervening  between  the  two 
bodies,  but  is  the  resultant  of  the  interaction  of  fields  of 
force  which  fill  an  entire  galactic  cell.  Though  seemingly 
impalpable,  the  aura  is  stronger  than  steel,  but  this  strength 
results  from  its  intimate  connection  with  an  infinite  source 
of  energy  which  is  spiritual.  So  does  the  invisible  spirit 
control  the  body;  and  even  so  public  opinion,  a  seemingly 
intangible  thing,  is  stronger  than  the  most  powerful  auto- 
crat, and  in  the  end  will  prevail.  Because  of  the  universal 
relationships  of  the  aura,  it  has  the  strength  of  the  many 
in  one;  and  the  wonderful  thing  about  the  electron,  con- 
sidered as  the  gravitational  unit,  is  that  through  its  gravi- 
tational field  of  force  it  is  everywhere  present  (at  least 
within  the  boundaries  of  its  own  aural  cell)  and  receives 
into  itself  an  impulse  from  and  an  impress  of  all  that 
transpires  in  a  vast  galactic  environment. 

The  electrons  are  like  little  organisms,  or  least  hearts, 
whose  synchronous  systole  and  diastole  make  the  life  of 
the  universe,  perpetually  receiving  and  transmitting  energy 
from  an  inexhaustible  source.  The  aura  is  the  "funda- 
mental substance."  As  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  says  of  it  in  his 
searching  analysis:  "It  cannot  really  be  ordinary  matter, 
because  ordinary  matter  is  definitely  differentiated  from 
it,  and  is  presumably  composed  of  it;  but  the  inertia  of 
ordinary  matter,  however  it  be  electrically  or  magnetically 
explained,  must  in  the  last  resort  depend  on  something 
parentally  akin  to  inertia  in  the  fundamental  substance 
which  fills  space."f 

*See  my  paper:  "On  a  Possible  Limit  to  Gravitation,"  Publica- 
tions of  the  American  Astronomical  Society,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  335. 
t'The  Ether  of  Space,"  p.  128. 
{"The  Ether  of  Space,"  p.  135. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  41 

At  the  center  of  each  aural  cell  is  a  galactic  nucleus  from 
which  issue  either  two  spiral  streams  of  stars,  or  else  con- 
centric spheres  of  stars  with  but  little  spiral  structure. 

Galactic  Dimensions. — In  regard  to  the  actual  status  of 
the  galaxies  Mr.  Gore  has  shown,*  and  I  have  shown  in- 
dependently^ that  the  nebula  in  Andromeda  must  be  an 
object  of  truly  galactic  dimensions.  On  the  supposition 
that  the  nova  which  appeared  near  the  center  of  the  nebula 
in  1885  had  an  absolute  brightness  equal  to  that  of  Nova 
Persei  1901,  I  found  that  the  nebula  must  be  at  least  at  a 
distance  of  1600  light-years.  If  the  star  in  the  nebula  had 
an  absolute  brightness  of  the  same  order  as  that  of  Tycho 
Brahe's  star,  it  may  have  been  still  more  massive  and  some- 
thing like  five  times  as  far  away  as  the  first  estimate,  or  at 
8,000  light-years;  but  anything  brighter  than  this  or  any 
larger  distance  seems  improbable,  for  Nova  Persei  was  itself 
an  object  of  phenomenal  size,  for  which  (in  Astronomische 
Nachrichten,  Nr.  3771)  I  deduced  a  mass  1149  times  that  of 
the  sun.  Mr.  Curtis  gets  10,000  light-years  as  an  average 
value  for  the  distance  of  certain  white  nebulae  not  more  than 
one- tenth  of  the  angular  diameter  of  the  great  Andromeda 
nebula4  If  these  objects  have  approximately  the  same  real 
size,  this  would  agree  fairly  with  my  first  value ;  but  my  second 
value  gives  dimensions  to  the  nebula  which  are  more  nearly 
comparable  with  those  of  our  own  Galaxy.  If  all  the  galaxies, 
including  our  own,  have  somewhat  similar  real  diameters,  the 
Curtis  nebulae  should  be  more  nearly  80,000  light-years  distant, 
and  this  seems  to  me  a  very  reasonable  assumption. 

Admitting  that  the  white  nebulae  are  galaxies,§  or  somewhat 
widely  separated  aggregations  of  double  spiral  form,  composed 
of  both  stars  and  nebulous  material,  and  in  some  cases  (as  in 

*T.  Ellard  Gore  in  Knowledge,  N.  S.,  Vol.  6,  p.  247,  July,  1909. 
fin  Astronomische  Nachrichten,  Nr.  4536. 

J  Publications  of  the  Astronomical  Society  of  the  Pacific,  Vol. 
XXVII,  p.  218,  1915. 

§As  is  indicated  in  my  statistical  study  in  Astronomische  Nach- 
richten,  Nr.  4536. 


42  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

N.  G.  C.  4594  and  5746)  with  annular  annexes  of  dark 
meteoritic  material,  it  becomes  of  interest  to  ask  whether  gravi- 
tation also  holds  sway  from  one  galaxy  to  another,  or  whether 
there  is  a  limit  to  the  extent  of  the  gravitational  field  around 
a  given  galaxy. 

Galactic  Distribution  and  Gravitational  Properties 
Which  May  Be  Inferred  Therefrom. — Considering  that 
the  parallax  of  the  nearest  star  is  almost  one  second  of  arc, 
if  we  represent  the  disk  of  a  star  1,000,000  km.  in  diameter 
by  a  little  circle  of  I  mm.,  we  should  have  to  place  a  similar 
dot  representing  the  next  nearest  star  at  a  distance  of 
(92.9 X 206,265 )/io6,  or  about  192  km.  away;  and  granting 
that  there  may  be  regions  in  the  Milky  Way  where  the  star- 
density  is  1,000  times  as  great  as  in  our  neighborhood,  yet 
even  there  the  dots  would  be  almost  20  km.  apart.  This  gives 
a  startling  picture  of  the  sparsity  of  stellar  material,  and  af- 
fords very  little  ground  for  the  supposition  that  the  lucid  stars 
bwe  their  high  temperature  to  collisions  with  other  stars,  sin  :e 
the  chances  of  their  meeting  are  almost  infinitesimal. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  let  a  millimeter  dot  stand  for  a 
galaxy,  neighboring  galaxies  will  be  represented  by  similar 
dots  sprinkled  only  a  few  centimeters  apart;  and  since  these 
objects  have  velocities  of  upwards  of  1,000  km.  per  sec., 
frequent  collisions  are  inevitable  unless  there  are  mutual 
repulsions  which  develop  upon  arriving  at  too  close  prox- 
imity. This  result  might,  however,  be  produced  in  another 
way,  provided  gravitational  attraction  by  which  we  assume 
the  stellar  movements  are  given,  is  not  universal,  but  is 
limited  in  its  action  to  definite  volumes  around  each  galactic 
center,  within  which  gravity  is  controlled  by  definitely 
limited  currents  of  the  aura.  In  fact,  the  great  velocities 
which  are  exhibited  by  certain  of  the  white  nebulae  do  not 
necessarily  imply  that  the  motions  have  been  imparted  by 
the  attraction  of  masses  enormously  greater  than  that  of 
our  Galaxy.  The  entire  field  of  gravitational  potential 
energy  belonging  to  a  given  galaxy  being  borne  by  a  limit- 
ing volume  of  surrounding  aura,  we  may  presume  that  if 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  43 

this  volume  of  aura  has  a  motion  of  its  own,  the  system  of 
enclosed  material  particles  will  necessarily  follow.  The 
galactic  multitude  will  be  carried  along  as  if  it  were  so 
much  floating  material  borne  on  a  supporting  current  of 
the  universal  medium  to  which  each  particle  is  intimately 
attached  by  its  very  constitution,  though  the  cause  of  the 
motion  is  not  to  be  sought  by  pressure  in  currents  of  imme- 
diately juxtaposed  aura,  but  in  more  extensive  aural  cur- 
rents, with  which  the  matter  is  connected  through  fields  of 
force.  Moreover,  as  each  portion  of  aura,  attendant  upon 
a  given  galaxy,  constitutes,  as  it  were,  a  single  compart- 
ment, or  cell,  in  a  great  multi-galactic  organism,  while  it 
is  conceivable  that  occasionally  a  fragment  of  aura  with 
its  enclosed  matter  may  be  torn  off  from  a  given  cell,  and 
may  invade  a  neighboring  cell,  we  might  rather  anticipate 
that,  as  a  rule,  the  individual  compartments  will  retain 
their  individuality.  In  general,  an  entire  block  of  aura  with 
its  contained  galaxy  will  not  penetrate  a  neighboring  block 
as  one  mass,  but  if  it  must  move  in  that  direction,  it  will 
do  so  by  thrusting  the  other  to  one  side.  Except  for  cer- 
tain gaseous  nebulae  of  bizarre  forms  which  appear  to  be 
entangled  among  stellar  masses  belonging  to  our  own 
Galaxy,  the  other,  or  white  nebulae,  as  a  rule,  exhibit  a 
general  similarity  of  type;  and  in  only  a  very  few  cases  is 
there  any  appearance  whatever  of  that  reckless  disarray 
which  might  be  charged  to  interpenetrating  or  colliding 
galaxies.  I  think  we  may  infer  that  in  spite  of  what  is 
geometrically  a  very  close  proximity,  these  galactic  masses, 
while  moving  among  each  other  freely,  do  not  collide ;  and 
if  occasionally  a  fragment  of  the  mass  is  torn  off  and  sent 
far  afield,  together  with  its  enclosed  matter,  there  is  pro- 
duced at  most  only  a  lone  wandering  star,  moving  with  the 
velocity  of  the  original  fragment,  which  may  for  a  while 
thread  the  intergalactic  spaces,  or  even  pass  through  foreign 
galaxies  as  a  "run-away  star,"  but  which  will  eventually  be 
subdued  by  the  persistent  lagging  of  its  attached  aura,  just 
as  the  relics  of  a  tornado  go  on  whirling  for  a  while,  but 


44  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

are  at  last  absorbed  in  the  more  general  movements  of  the 
atmosphere. 

We  are  thus  led  to  look  upon  the  galaxies  as  local  knots 
of  aggregation,  separated  by  considerable  spaces,  but  not 
by  spaces  which  are  enormous  compared  with  the  galactic 
diameters ;  and  these  intermediate  spaces  need  not  be  wholly 
devoid  of  stars.  It  has  been  surmised  that  some  of  the 
faintest  stars  shown  on  photographic  plates  may  be  at  dis- 
tances of  something  like  50,000  light-years.  This  is  possi- 
ble, but  if  so  far  away,  it  is  improbable  that  these  stars 
have  any  connection  with  our  Galaxy  whose  condensations 
occupy  a  much  smaller  space.* 

Pulsations  and  Revolutions  of  Electrons  in  the  Atom.— 
If  the  pulsation  of  the  electron  involves  an  elastic  recipro- 
cating vibration  between  the  whole  vast  body  of  aura  in  an 
aural  "cell"  reacting  upon  the  elastic  resistance  of  the 
rotating  aura  circumscribed  by  the  surface  of  an  electron, 
the  superficial  condensation  need  not  be  great,  but  at  any 
rate  the  interior  resilience  must  be  enormous.  In  fact,  we 
should  infer  as  much  from  the  wholly  independent  result 
obtained  by  Fessenden  for  the  pressure  at  the  surface  of 
an  electron.  The  atoms  in  their  most  condensed  form  in 
liquids  and  solids  have  equally  an  enormous  interior  resist- 
ance and  are  practically  incompressible.  This  property  will 
have  to  be  referred  back  to  the  great  resistance  to  pressure 
of  the  constituent  electrons. 

The  Pulsating  Electron  and  Its  Relation  to  the  Universe. 
— According  to  the  experiments  of  Bjerknes  with  pulsating 
spheres,  if  the  results  are  applicable  to  gravitation,  since 
negative  gravitation  is  unknown,  it  is  necessary  that  all  of 
the  pulsators  shall  pulsate  synchronously  with  identical 
periods  and  phases.  The  gravitational  pulsation  must 
therefore  be  the  unique  origin  of  time  and  its  most  funda- 
mental expression.  It  also  constitutes  a  most  amazing  evi- 
dence of  the  absolute  unity  of  the  created  universe.  Hicks 

*As  is  shown  in  my  paper :  "On  Stellar  and  Nebular  Distances/' 
Knowledge,  Vol.  XXXV,  No.  530,  September,  1912,  pages  329- 
332;  and  No.  531,  October,  1912,  pages  373-376. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  45 

remarks  on  this  point :  "All  we  have  to  suppose  is  that  atoms 
pulsate  with  a  constant  period,  and  that  none  have  phases 
differing  by  more  than  90°,  or  that  if  such  once  existed 
they  have  been  eliminated."  No  suggestion  has  been 
offered,  however,  as  to  any  means  by  which  this  elimina- 
tion can  be  effected. 

Now  in  spite  of  an  infinite  diversity,  there  is  in  the 
universe  a  unity  which  suggests  a  consistent  plan  and  uni- 
versal correlation  of  parts.  Spiritual  philosophy  attributes 
this  unity  to  the  Oneness  of  a  divine  Creator.  If  the  syn- 
chronous pulsations  of  the  electrons  can  be  demonstrated, 
it  will  be  the  nearest  approach  that  science  has  ever  made 
to  the  acknowledgment  by  the  magicians  of  Egypt,  the 
very  dust  having  become  alive :  "This  is  the  finger  of  God" 
(Exodus,  viii,  19).  Verily,  the  mystery  of  the  infinitely 
little  is  as  overwhelming  as  that  of  the  outstretched  heavens. 

Hicks  says:  "If  the  theory  offered  is  the  true  one  for  the 
explanation  of  gravitation  it  would  be  possible  to  have  celestial 
systems,  the  parts  of  which  in  each  would  obey  the  law  of 
gravitation,  but  which  would  not  influence  each  other,  or  would 
repel  each  other."  Evidence  has  now  been  adduced  which 
seems  to  me  powerful  in  confirmation  of  this  conception.  The 
relative  crowding  of  the  galaxies  is  so  great  that  it  argues  a 
mutual  repulsion  between  these  larger  parts  in  a  system  of 
another  order. 

Various  investigations  of  the  pulsatory  gravitative  hypo- 
thesis have  been  made,  notably  those  of  the  mathematicians, 
Hicks,  Burton,  and  Leahy.  In  these  studies  it  has  been  found 
necessary  to  assume  the  existence  of  points  which  are  sources 
or  sinks  of  fluid  motion.  Swedenborg  also  predicted  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  universe  from  "points'"  which  are  centers  of 
"conatus,"  which  may  perhaps  be  translated  "energy."  But 
however  permissible  the  assumption  of  these  "sinks"  and 
"sources"  may  be  as  mathematical  devices,  it  is  impossible  to 
conceive  of  them  as  actually  existent,  except  as  the  outcome  of 
a  hyper-space  of  whose  reality  several  eminent  mathematicians 
have  speculated,  and  for  which  even  a  semblance  of  experimen- 
tal evidence  has  been  given  by  Zollner  in  his  "Transcendental 


46  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

Physics."  The  existence  of  properties  which  transcend  those 
of  matter  and  tridimensional  space  is  forced  upon  our  at- 
tention whenever  we  approach  the  boundaries  of  the  material 
universe. 

While  the  enormous  velocity  of  gravitation  indicates  that 
the  transmitting  medium  is  almost  incompressible,  the  atom 
and  the  electron  must  be  regarded  as  definitely  limited  volumes 
within  which  a  diminution  of  the  "density"  of  the  aura  arises 
through  the  centrifugal  force  of  a  rapid  rotation.  Burton  as- 
sumes that  "the  nucleus  of  an  electron,  instead  of  being 
vacuous,  is  merely  a  region  of  somewhat  diminished  density. 
.  .  .  This  assumption  as  to  the  nature  of  the  electronic 
nucleus  is  admittedly  gratuitous,  but  apart  from  the  difficulty 
regarding  mobility  which  it  was  designed  to  remove,  it  has  the 
advantage  of  greatly  simplifying  the  dynamics  of  the  problem 
proposed."  (Philosophical  Magazine,  [6],  Vol.  XVII,  p.  74, 
1909).  By  admitting  the  existence  of  local  variations  of 
density  in  a  nearly  incompressible  and  highly  elastic  medium, 
the  transfer  of  such  centers  of  density- variation  becomes  com- 
prehensible, and  likewise  the  interaction  of  atomic  pulsations 
may  be  grasped. 

In  order  that  a  mass  of  matter,  that  is,  a  partial  vacuity  in 
the  aura,  may  move  from  position  a  to  position  b,  there  must 
be  an  inflow  of  aura  at  a  and  an  outflow  at  b,  which  requires 
that  there  shall  be  a  gradient  of  pressure  in  the  aura  between  a 
and  b,  and  that  work  shall  be  performed  by  the  aura  at  the  ex- 
pense of  its  potential  energy. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Leahy  has  urged  an  objection  against  the  theory 
we  are  considering,  and  in  regard  to  the  proposition 
"that  all  atoms  are  pulsating  in  phases  not  differing  from 
one  another  by  more  than  a  quarter  period,  and  that  the 
intervening  medium  is  an  incompressible  fluid"  he  says: 
"If  this  were  the  case,  the  law  of  universal  attraction  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  the  inverse  squares  would  follow; 
but  unless  the  medium  is  supposed  to  be  absolutely  incom- 
pressible, in  which  case  all  pulsations  would  be  instanta- 
neously diffused  throughout  space,  there  would  on  this 
theory  be  repulsion  between  bodies  at  distances  greater 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  47 

than  a  quarter  wave-length,  and  bodies  would  at  certain 
distances  repel  one  another,  which  is  contrary  to  observa- 
tion."* Since  in  the  present  paper,  evidence  is  adduced 
showing  that  presumably  bodies  of  galactic  magnitude, 
and  separated  by  intergalactic  distances,  do  repel  each 
other,  we  have  only  to  predicate  of  the  gravitational  quarter- 
wave  a  length  of  the  order  of  the  radius  of  an  aural  cell, 
and1  we  shall  have  a  theory  of  pulsating  matter  which 
accounts  for  both  the  atom  and  the  galaxy  as  necessarily 
interrelated  parts.  Thus  in  the  light  of  the  new  evidence, 
the  supposed  incompatibility  between  observation  and 
theory  becomes,  on  the  contrary,  a  powerful  argument  in 
favor  of  the  new  theory. 

As  to  the  direction  of  propagation  of  the  gravitational 
wave,  if  the  direction  is  strictly  radial,  it  is  necessary  to 
suppose  that  the  wave  is  reflected  directly  back  upon  itself 
at  the  remote  boundary  of  the  cell ;  or  else  we  must  presume 
that  the  radial  direction  is  eventually  diverted  into  a  cir- 
culatory path.  The  latter  accords  better  with  magnetic 
analogies.  In  neither  the  magnetic  nor  the  gravitative 
fields  is  there  any  direct  flow  of  the  medium  along  lines  of 
force  as  conditioning  the  potential ;  but  conditions  of  mag- 
netic polarization,  or  of  pressure  strain,  are  involved,  either 
of  them  following  lines  controlled  by  the  peculiar  proper- 
ties of  the  organ  of  transmission.  Since  equal  numbers  of 
electrons,  having  by  their  positions  and  rotations  the 
properties  of  positive  and  negative  electricity,  are  asso- 
ciated together  in  the  atom,  it  may  be  proper  to  consider 
the  gravitational  unit  as  a  pair  of  electrons,  each  pair  con- 
stituting an  electric  doublet.  The  immediate  electric  attrac- 
tions of  the  components  of  the  doublet  being  thus  very 
nearly  satisfied,  gravitation  becomes  a  secondary  residual 
effect  of  relatively  very  inconsiderable  importance,  com- 
pared with  the  major  electrical  forces  from  which  the  inner 
energy  of  the  atom  springs.  Even  if  independent  sources 

*  Transactions  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society,  Vol.  XIV., 
p.  61,  1889. 


48  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

must  be  assigned  to  the  gravitational  and  the  electrical 
effects,  the  latter  being  especially  manifested  in  chemical 
affinity,  nevertheless,  the  two  are  so  intimately  associated  in 
the  atom  that  they  can  not  be  entirely  divorced.  On  the 
whole,  however,  it  seems  more  reasonable  to  attribute 
cohesion  to  the  attraction  of  such  electric  doublets,  but  to 
assign  gravitational  attraction  to  the  interaction  of  the 
pressure  fields  of  pulsating  electronic  rings. 

"Bound  Ether" — It  is  now  pertinent  to  explain  my  con- 
ception of  the  "bound  ether"  more  fully.  In  the  first  place, 
by  "ether"  in  the  passage  quoted  from  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson, 
is  not  to  be  understood  the  specially  organized  entity  which 
conveys  light,  but  a  condensation  of  the  universal  aura  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  matter,  which  is  governed  by  the 
fourth-power  law  appropriate  to  the  fundamental  mag- 
netic substance;  and  it  would  perhaps  be  permissible  to  call 
it  bound  aura,  rather  than  "bound  ether,"  though  if  it  is 
desired  to  look  upon  the  "atmospheric"  sheath  of  the 
electron  as  a  sort  of  attached  particle  which,  when 
detached,  becomes  an  ether-particle,  it  is  also  permissible 
to  do  that.  The  ether  which  conveys  light,  however,  is  not 
so  governed  or  hampered  in  its  progress  through  interstellar 
space,  but,  like  the  electrons,  it  is  free,  corpuscular,  and 
possesses  radiant  energy  which  diminishes  with  the  inverse 
square  of  the  distance  as  it  moves  onward  with  the  speed 
of  light,  simply  by  spreading  its  field  of  force  over  a  wider 
area.  Inherently,  the  energy  of  the  ether-particle  does  not 
change  until  it  is  ready  to  be  reabsorbed,  either  by  matter, 
or  by  the  universal  aura  in  the  reconstitution  of  matter  in 
its  incipient  nebular  form. 

The  rays  of  light  are  not  deflected  by  passing  through  the 
bound  ether  attached  to  matter,  because  they  readily  pene- 
trate this  ether ;  but  they  are  retarded  by  it  through  electro- 
magnetic forces  developed  in  the  medium.  Thus  aberra- 
tion of  light  is  entirely  independent  of  the  bound  ether, 
nor  can  the  rotation  of  a  mass  of  matter  impart  a  like 
rotation  to  the  aura.  The  attached  ether  moves  with  its 
attracting  matter  from  one  locality  to  another.  This 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  49 

moving  attached  ether  accompanying  a  transparent  body 
in  its  motion  does  not  carry  with  it,  control,  or  push  aside 
any  radiant  ether  which  may  enter  it  by  the  crude  mode  of 
a  bodily  displacement.  Yet  in  a  more  subtle  way,  through 
induced  vibrations  and  the  drag  which  they  impose  upon 
the  passing  rays,  the  bound  ether,  whether  quiescent  or 
moving  (and  independently  of  its  state  of  relative  motion 
or  rest)  does  exert  a  retarding  influence  on  the  passing 
radiant  ether,  but  one  which  is  determined  by  the  density 
and  electro-magnetic  state,  and  not  by  the  motion  of  the 
bound  ether.  Thence  comes  refraction. 

Is  there  a  More  Extensive  Atmosphere  of  Ether  Attached 
to  the  Earth? — The  argument  of  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  noted 
above,  which  limits  the  extent  of  the  bound  ether  shell  (con- 
sisting of  bound  aura)  to  the  immediate  vicinity  of  matter,  is 
conclusive  as  regards  an  electronic  atmosphere.  Swedenborg, 
however,  imagined  that  there  might  be  atmospheres  of  ether 
encompassing  the  heavenly  bodies  and  much  more  extensive 
than  the  aerial  atmospheres,  but  also  everywhere  penetrating 
between  the  grosser  particles  of  solid  matter.  In  his  futile 
attempt  to  improve  the  Cartesian  vortical  scheme  for  explain- 
ing the  planetary  motions,  he  at  first  ascribed  their  cause  to  the 
interaction  of  vortices  in  these  extended  spheres  of  ether, 
though  distinguishing  the  ether  from  a  universal  interstellar 
atmosphere  consisting  of  still  finer  particles.  After  explaining 
that  the  earth  was  thrown  off  from  the  sun  and  at  first  moved 
near  the  solar  surface  and  performed  "its  axillary  revolutions 
more  rapidly  than  it  does  at  a  farther  distance  from  the  sun, 
where  a  considerable  portion  of  it  is  consumed  in  the  forma- 
tion of  ether,  air,  water  and  terrestrial  material,"*  Sweden- 
borg proceedsf  to  develop  this  theory.  The  correct  transla- 
tion here  is  a  matter  of  more  importance.  Clissold's  English 
translation  conveys  a  wrong  impression.^  Rightly  rendered, 

*Prtncipia,  Part  III,  Chap.  XI,  n.  2. 

fO£.  cit.,  n.  4. 

^Compare  the  original:  "  Principia  Rerum  Naturalium  sive  No- 
vorum  Tentaminum  Ph&nome'na  Mundi  Elementaris  Philosophic^ 
Explicanda,"  of  which  a  very  carefully  edited  edition  has  recently 


50  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

the  text  states  that  the  earth,  moving  among  the  elementary 
particles  which  surround  the  sun  as  a  medium  and  fill  the 
whole  space  of  the  solar  system  to  the  outermost  planets,  sets 
in  motion,  or  drives  (agat)  a  vortex  of  its  own,  which  in  the 
early  stages  of  the  earth's  development  was  large  because  the 
earth  then  moved  more  rapidly,  and  a  rapidly  moving  body 
can  drive  a  larger  vortex  than  a  body  which  moves  slowly. 
Also  a  planet  of  greater  mass  draws,  or  retains  (trahat)  a  larg- 
er vortex,  because  "the  impetus  and  momentum  (pondus)  are 
compounded  of  the  mass  multiplied  into  the  velocity."  This 
language  is  applicable  to  and  consistent  with  no  other  concep- 
tion than  that  of  a  rotating  sphere  of  bound  ether  attached  to 
the  earth  and  retained  by  ethereal  friction.  Swedenborg  sup- 
posed that  a  similar,  but  immensely  greater  sphere  of  bound 
ether  surrounds  the  sun,  its  volume  having  some  relation  to 
the  mass  of  that  body.  Since  the  lesser  volume  moves  in  the 
greater,  the  two  necessarily  react.*  It  was  natural  to  inquire 
iwhether  the  reaction  of  these  vast  volumes  of  bound  ether 
might  not  explain  the  planetary  motions.  The  conception, 
though  evidently  suggested  by  the  vortical  theory  of  Des  Cartes, 
is  a  great  improvement  on  the  latter  in  some  respects  and  much 
more  subtle ;  but  it  can  not  be  admitted.  The  phenomenon,  if 
it  were  possible,  would  have  an  analogy  to  the  invisible  support 
of  a  soaring  bird  whose  momentum  is  transferred  through 
aerial  viscosity  to  an  immense  volume  of  air,  and  the  weight 
of  the  bird  by  innumerable  intermediates  rests  upon  a  wide 
surface  of  the  earth. f  It  would  be  inconceivable  that  a  current 
of  ether,  circulating  around  the  sun  and  of  no  greater  section 
than  the  earth's,  should  exercise  any  immediate  directive  in- 
fluence on  the  earth's  motion ;  but  it  was  plausible  that  the  in- 


been  brought  out  by  the  Swedish  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  in 
"  Emanuel  Swedenborg  Opera  qu&dam  aut  inedita  aut  obsoleta  de 
Rebus  Naturalibus"  Vol.  II,  Cosmologica.  Stockholm:  1908. 

*  As  shown,  Op.  cit.,  n.  5. 

fSee  my  paper  on  "  The  R61e  of  Viscosity  in  Air  Support  of  a 
Moving  Aeroplane,"  Technology  Quarterly,  Vol.  XXI,  p.  490, 
Dec.,  1908. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  51 

teraction  of  immense  volumes  of  ether  might  bind  together 
their  respective  centers  through  ethereal  viscosity.  Sweden- 
bo  rg's  design  of  a  flying  machine  shows  that  his  thoughts  had 
been  directed  to  mechanism  of  flight  and  that  he  had  grasped 
its  essential  principles.  Here,  however,  analogy  failed.  The 
volumes  of  bound  ether  accompanying  sun  and  planets,  if  re- 
tained by  friction,  will  be  conditioned  by  the  areas  and  the 
squares  of  the  velocities  of  the  frictional  surfaces.  Hence,  since 
the  sun's  equatorial  velocity  of  rotation  is  only  41/3  times 
that  of  the  earth  and  1/6  of  Jupiter's,  the  sphere  of  bound 
ether  surrounding  the  sun,  if  it  were  thus  retained,  could 
not  extend  much  farther  than  that  of  some  of  the  planets. 
The  supposed  interaction  of  the  solar  and  planetary  vortices 
simply  does  not  exist.  When  it  is  recognized  that  a  deep 
layer  of  bound  ether  can  not  be  held  by  friction,  the  con- 
ception of  extensive  ethereal  atmospheres  and  of  their  inter- 
action as  a  source  of  gravity  must  be  abandoned;  but  the 
germ  of  the  idea  of  gravity  conceived  as  an  interaction  of 
interpenetrating  fields  of  force  in  one  universal  atmosphere 
is  contained  in  these  early  vortical  theories.  Whether 
there  may  be  an  earthly  atmosphere  of  free  ether-particles 
which  do  not  move  with  the  velocity  of  light,  but  remain 
at  rest  in  respect  to  the  earth  and  therefore  are  not  like 
ordinary  ether,  and  which  outreach  the  aerial  atmosphere, 
and  what  the  function  of  such  an  atmosphere  may  be,  must 
be  left  undecided;  but  the  functions  are  not  gravitational. 
If  there  be  such  an  atmosphere,  it  is  perhaps  the  physical 
basis  of  exterior  thought,  which  may  be  said  to  be  "in 
space,"  and  especially  of  that  telepathic  thought  which  is 
received  by  harmoniously  attuned  instruments. 

Later  on,  this  theory  of  gravity  appears  to  have  been 
given  up.  Its  author  still  holds  to  the  discontinuity  of  the 
ether  and  its  existence  as  a  distinct,  though  not  a  universal 
atmosphere ;  but  he  assigns  the  gravitational  role  to  a  more 
subtle  atmosphere  which  extends  throughout  the  celestial 
spaces:  "The  three  natural  atmospheres  originating  from 
the  sun  of  the  world,  are  the  purer  ether,  which  is  universal, 
and  from  which  is  all  gravity;  the  middle  ether  which 


52  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

makes  a  vortex  about  the  planets,  in  which  also  is  light,  in 
which  are  the  satellites,  and  from  which  comes  magnetism; 
and  the  ultimate  ether  which  is  the  air."  This  conclusion, 
though  not  reached  until  near  the  end  of  his  life  and  not 
published  until  after  his  death,  was  not  explained  at  length ; 
but  it  seems  to  have  been  deliberately  and  carefully  thought 
out,  and  it  is  in  several  respects  in  accordance  with  present 
ideas.  If  Thomson  is  right,  the  sphere  of  bound  ether  can 
extend  little  farther  than  the  air,  and  can  not  include  the 
satellites,  since  it  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  planet's 
magnetic  field. 

In  an  intermediate  stage  of  his  thought,  Swedenborg 
considered  the  possibility  of  four  atmospheres,  two  of 
them,  respectively  assigned  to  gravitational  and  magnetic 
activities,  being  described  as  universal,  but  distinct.  In 
his  last  view,  he  allows  the  ether  to  exercise  both  electric 
and  magnetic  functions  and  omits  the  purely  magnetic 
atmosphere.  This  is  in  accordance  with  the  salutary  rule 
that  it  is  undesirable  to  multiply  agents  where  a  single  one 
is  competent  to  fill  several  offices ;  and  a  while  ago  a  similar 
dual,  or  "electro-magnetic"  wave-theory  in  a  single 
"universal"  ether  was  in  vogue.  But  today,  in  view  of  the 
greater  penetrative  power  of  the  magnetic  field,  and  the 
decidedly  electrical  affinities  of  the  ether,  it  is  in  order  to 
assign  the  dual  function  of  both  gravitational  and  mag- 
netic activity  to  the  universal  atmosphere,  while  grouping 
electricity  and  ether  together  as  being  two  species  of  an 
entity  always  most  intimately  associated  with  matter,  save 
when  in  transit  from  one  part  of  space  to  another  after 
having  been  ejected  from  its  original  material  source. 
Both  the  free  electron  and  the  vibrant  ether-corpuscle,  the 
one  in  the  lightning-flash,  the  other  in  the  sunbeam,  have 
been  violently  disrupted  from  their  association  with  matter 
and  sent  speeding  through  space;  but  they  had  previously 
existed  in  matter,  and,  indeed,  are  its  originating  constitu- 
ents. In  a  word,  all  matter  may  be  said  to  be  formed  out 
of  light  in  the  depths  of  space. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  formed,  but  did  not  publish,  a  broad 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  53 

general  conception  which  is  somewhat  allied  to  the  theory 
presented  in  my  paper:  "What  becomes  of  the  Light  of 
the  Stars?"  He  thought  that  there  must  be  some  sort 
of  interstellar  atmosphere  of  an  attenuated  substance,  the 
"food  of  the  sun  and  planets.  .  .  .  Thus  perhaps  the  whole 
frame  of  nature  may  be  nothing  but  various  contextures 
of  some  certain  setherial  spirits  or  vapors,  condensed  as 
it  were  by  precipitation";*  but  this  substance  was  not  our 
so-called  ether,  nor  did  he  attempt  to  define  either  the 
nature  or  the  activities  of  this  universal  medium.  His  "light- 
corpuscles"  were  in  no  sense  the  components  of  a  universal  at- 
mosphere. 

Swedenborg  went  much  farther  and  labored  strenuously  at 
the  herculean  task  of  devising  a  system  of  interrelated  media 
whose  particles  should  be  constituted  on  mechanical  principles, 
while  answering  at  the  same  time  as  a  basis  for  various  physical 
forces.  Mathematically,  he  was  poorly  equipped  for  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problem,  but  as  a  philosopher  he  had  no  superior, 
and  some  of  his  results  are  in  extraordinary  agreement  with 
recent  scientific  discoveries.  Such  are  his  ascription  of  lumi- 
nous and  electric  functions  to  the  ether,  and  his  teaching  that 
the  ether  is  not  the  same  as  the  interstellar  atmosphere;  and 
though  he  was  on  a  wrong  track  in  supposing  that  gravity  re- 
sults from  the  interplay  of  limited  vortices  of  ether  attached  to 
sun  and  planets,  he  approached  the  truth  in  another  way;  for 
the  electron  which  is  so  closely  related  to  the  ether,  is  now  seen 
to  be  the  first  gravitational  unit ;  and  even  the  idea  that  gravity 
is  produced  by  the  mutual  pressure  of  interpenetrating  vortices 
has  a  foundation  if  the  theory  be  transferred  from  the  ether 
to  the  aura,  or  to  the  "purer  ether"  of  the  preceding  quotation, 
and  if  the  vortices  are  given  galactic  dimensions.  In  fact, 
though  I  arrived  at  my  conclusion  in  another  way,  I  now  see 
that  eventually  Swedenborg  probably  reached  a  somewhat 
similar  general  conception  (in  the  posthumous  passage  already 
quoted). 

'Newton's  Letters,  etc.  Philosophical  Mag.  (3)  Vol.  XXIX,  p. 
190,  1846. 


54  THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER 

Professor  R.  W.  Brown*  concludes  that  Swedenborg  was 
probably  misled  into  his  error  of  supposing  that  there  are  solar 
and  planetary  ethereal  vortices  of  opposite  sorts  which  act  and 
react,  through  his  having  noticed  that  the  satellites  move  faster 
than  the  surfaces  of  their  planets,  but  that  the  planets  revolve 
in  their  orbits  more  slowly  than  the  sun's  superficial  rotational 
velocity.  Instead  of  attributing  this  fact  to  the  action  of  two 
kinds  of  vortices,  one  moving  swiftest  at  the  circumference,  the 
other  swiftest  at  the  center,  it  is  more  reasonable  to  see  in  this  a 
reminiscence  of  the  past  history  of  these  bodies,  and  to  infer 
that  the  planets  have  developed  from  the  sun  successively,  or 
from  within,  and  show  their  relation  to  the  central  body  of 
their  parent  and  to  his  waning  powers  in  this  way ;  but  that  the 
satellites  have  come  from  without,  thus  by  capture,  and  exhibit 
a  wholly  different  relation. 

In  further  elucidation  of  this  subject,  may  be  mentioned  a 
passage  from  Swedenborg's  "Economy  of  the  Soul's  King- 
dom" (Vol.  I,  n.  299).:  "There  are  three  species  of  motion, 
namely:  (i)  local  or  translate ry  motion;  (2)  undulatory  or 
modificatory  motion;  (3)  axillary  or  central  motion.  There  is, 
moreover,  (4)  animatory,  or  alternately  expanding  and  con- 
tracting motion;  and  to  this  may  be  added  (5)  conatus  or  ef- 
fort, which  is  a  perpetual  tendency  to  motion." 

The  separate  consideration  of  "three  species  of  motion,"  and 
then  the  addition  of  yet  a  fourth  kind,  indicates  that  the  latter 
is  thought  to  be  peculiar,  or  somewhat  apart  from  the  obvious 
sorts  of  motion.  This  would  apply  precisely  to  the  pulsating 
movements  of  the  electrons  from  which  gravitation  presumably 
arises.  These  movements  can  never  be  observed  directly,  but 
must  be  inferred  from  their  effects. 

The  final  mention  of  a  fifth  species  which  seems  to  be  identi- 
cal with  the  most  modern  conception  of  what  we  now  call 
"energy,"  leads  to  the  recognition  of  a  variety  of  hidden,  in- 
terior, or  "potential"  movements  which  also  have  to  be  inferred 

*In  The  Journal  of  Education,  published  at  Bryn  Athyn,  Pa., 
Vol.  XV,  p.  148,  April,  1916. 


THE  LUMINIFEROUS  ETHER  55 

from  what  they  do.     It  is  by  the  eye  of  reason  that  we  must 
penetrate  more  deeply  into  the  hidden  recesses  of  nature. 

Having  now  viewed  our  subject  from  various  sides,  we 
are  in  a  position  to  say  that,  according  to  present  light, 
the  free  ether  consists  of  spherical  elastic  particles,  while  the 
electrons  are  cored  vortices  whose  rigid  surfaces  are  every- 
where rotating  with  the  velocity  of  light;  that  the  ether,  in 
so  far  as  it  is  atmospheric,  appears  to  consist  not  so  much 
of  a  single  atmosphere,  but  rather  of  innumerable  conden- 
sations of  the  universal  atmosphere  around  the  electrons 
from  which  it  is  thrown  off  in  radiant  emission;  that  the 
ether  penetrates  the  structure  of  all  material  forms,  but 
with  diverse  degrees  of  freedom  according  to  electrical 
properties,  and  is  everywhere  closely  associated  with 
matter,  sharing  with  the  electrons  in  a  gravitative  pulsatory 
motion  of  its  individual  particles  by  which  both  are  con- 
tinually connected  with  the  source  of  their  sustenance  in 
the  universal  aura,  and  having  besides,  when  free,  a  peculiar 
oscillatory  motion  of  its  own;  that  in  this  way  the  tiny 
electrons  are  most  intimately  conjoined  with  the  vast 
galactic  spirals  and  like  them  endure  for  ages,  while  the 
light  of  the  stars,  though  dimmed,  is  not  extinguished  after 
traveling  for  millions  of  years;  but  as  light-bearer,  the 
ether  is  not  an  atmosphere,  but  an  emanation  of  discrete 
particles,  images  of  vibrating  electrons,  involving  in  their 
inception  least  quanta  of  energy,  formed  out  of  the  elec- 
tronic or  intra-atomic  "atmospheres,"  and  possessing  in- 
numerable varieties  of  specific  vibrant  form  which  reflect 
the  electronic  motions  at  epochal  moments  of  perturbation 
and  inversion,  and  which  are  accompanied  by  electro- 
magnetic fields  of  force  in  the  universal  aura.  These  ex- 
tended fields  interpenetrate  and  sometimes  interfere.  This 
is  an  apparently  simple  statement,  but  without  the  discussion 
which  precedes,  it  would  be  unintelligible. 

WESTWOOD  ASTROPHYSICAL  OBSERVATORY, 
WESTWOOD,  MASSACHUSETTS, 
May  27,  1918. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


1939 


LD  21-20m-5, '39  (9269s) 


RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT      4459 

TO— ^-      202  Main  Library 


LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  the  due  date. 

Books  may  be  Renewed  by  calling     642-3405. 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


LIBRARY  USE~( 

WLY 

MAR  o  r*\  10 

on 

yy 

UIRCULATION  C 

EPT. 

F:D 

i  '  /»  P  °  0 

It.HK  ^  U 

1989 

CIRCULATK 

!N  UtHI. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 

FORM  NO.  DD6  BERKELEY,  CA  94720 

®$ 


